After the Before I
by Phoenix-sol
Summary: Chapter 21, how are the SWAT girls doing? I didn’t forget them. Here’s a bit more about Police and you get to know more about the darker side of this twisted character.
1. Prologue

Spoilers

**Author Note: **I spent at least two months working on this fic, working out what the plot was and what should and shouldn't happen, I've enjoyed writing it and hope you enjoy reading it too, I'd love feed back, either review or e-mail me (it's in the authors directory; phoenix_sol@hotmail.com), it's not compulsory or anything but I'd really appreciate it, aaanyywaaay read on, I know an intro and a prologue is a bit tedious but I had to set the time frame. 

Spoilers? There aren't any spoilers really, I've only read up to #43 and even then, there are things that haven't been mentioned. No Ellimist Chronicle spoilers. So don't worry, I don't think anything new is going to be said. AFTER THE BEFORE

_ _

_INTRODUCTION_

_A tale of corruption, greed and hate, played in a time where nothing and no one was safe, where the galaxy was still at war. It talks about heroes and heroines, talks about traitors and cowards as well, but most importantly it talks about the truth. _

_'Heroes are made not born.' According to Achivil the great, he said this after the defeat, after the Animorphs were slaughtered in a hopeless fight, before humans took to the skies. He said that we need heroes to survive this terrible time, a time of which human will fight another human, a human who was helpless, knee deep in slavery, controlled by nothing but a slimy slug. _

_'Heroes are made not born, and at some time they have to leave us, leaving behind their legacy for others to follow.' Achivil was right about one thing though, he was right about heroes not being born, only a fool would believe that a being could be born 'hero', but he was wrong about the leaving part, at least, about the Animorphs leaving, but at that time no one knew that, or even suspected… _

_Yet as this tale is spun, far away in an untouched part of Earth, a simple life is starting, the life of a 'to be made hero', but that person doesn't know that. You wouldn't know until after… _

_But for now, stay and hear what Achivil's thinks, another hero who had left, not left life really, but ran for his life, and hid in a far away place, away from the war, on Earth, ironically where it all began. As far away as the great Achivil was, he knew what was going round him; he had a way of knowing. And all he could do about it was think… _

_He wasn't going to reenter the war, but he will play a part of it, a big part of taking back Earth, his intervention will be a great cause of it. Yet he doesn't know that, no one knows that Earth, the fallen mother will give birth to an even older, much wiser world, a world the humans are surely to want to return to…_

PROLOGUE

It was funny. No ironic. Ironic that it wasn't humanity that devastated itself, ironic that man hadn't by then destroyed himself by all his selfish desires and utterly egocentric thinking. Yes, man had only cared for himself, never more than himself. Back then; man had never cared for himself as a whole. As a people. 

But even then there was a difference, a difference between man, human and the people. 

Man is the definition of extreme living. And I needn't tell you that, you only have to open any news channel in any part of the world to see this.

The people are different too. But to know who are the people you have to know the human. 

A human is a smart, cunning, rational creature. People are the opposite, people are humans grouped together, and humans grouped together are anything but smart, cunning and rational. People are stupid, dumb, irrational things. 

You want to understand this better? Think of it this way; if I placed a human in a situation, this situation being that I have just informed it that all hell is going to break loose, the first thing it will do is demand for an explanation. Then act. 

You tell people that all hell is going to break loose their first reaction is a primitive one, a simple question is asked; flight or fight? And the second one of them had decided which one to employ the rest _will_ follow _regardless_. After that, then they will ask for an explanation, after all of what could be destroyed is destroyed after all… 

But does it matter? Did it matter? At that time, could all this have been changed? Of course not, that would have been impossible. 

He said it was a curse, everything on Earth was at war, and everyone and everything on it had a reason to fight. Right up to the galactic war between aliens. War between man himself, his brain. War between man and man. War between man and the wild. All the way down to war between the wild and the wild. Something had to give; the careful violent balance had been distorted. 

Distorted by the humans, distorted by the aliens. The balanced snapped, all of it. And something had to give way. 

It was like a dam breaking. And it was not. It was like a dam because the water that burst from it's wounded walls flooding, had destroyed everything. And it was not like a dam because only a human could construct a dam 

But humans learned to construct dams by learning and watching, by watching beavers. 

Likewise, man had stood silent, watched, stole and constructed from many other creatures and many other things than just the beavers. Yes, man was smart because man was selfish for himself, and because of his selfishness, there is a need to live, a need to survive this all. But how? 

Like I said, by watching silently. After the defeat we stole. 

We were just a couple hundred, no more. Nothing compared to the billions we used to be, and what we did was scale-up the food chain, we grabbed what we could, we adapted. 

We stole technology, and no doubt you know what I am talking about. History repeated itself in a crude way. Very crude. 

For it was Yeerks who stole from Andalites and by doing so wanted to destroy them. And so did the humans steal from the Yeerks, they too wanted to destroy _them_. 

But here is where new history is being written, for as a smart human once said, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' 

The Andalites were not the humans' friends, but because they were enemies of _our_ enemies, therefore they are our friends. For the time being. Because human will not forget, no, not forget the terrible stain between these two different races, which to the eyes of a stranger seem so similar. 

Yes, but one side realized the similarities and apprehended that after the war with the greatest enemy is won, there will be a new war… 

But the new war is after. 

You want to know what was after…after the before. 

After the before. A phrase that will mean nothing to someone who had not known what was after, and what was before. 

All I could tell you about this is that after the before; where before is 'before the defeat'. And after is 'after'. So now I could simplify and tell you that after the before is simply after the defeat. 

But it is terrible for a human to admit this. No, sorry, a human _can_ admit this. People couldn't, and you have to please the people to survive. 

After the before, man had found a beaver, it was a new and unfamiliar thing. He found it building something. And what was it? A dam. A dam was something new and useful. He saw the dam and smiled. 

He saw the tools, he mimicked. He saw the skills, he learnt. And he built a dam. 

But the dam he built was not a silly puny thing constructed with twigs and trees. No, it was massive. It was made with concrete and metal. It was new and powerful. Improved. 

Yes. You understand where this is heading clever little human. No? You do not understand this? It is okay, I will tell you. 

The humans saw something new and extraordinary. Like the dam. The humans watched. They saw the tools, and mimicked. They saw the skills, and learnt. And what they came up with was something massive; it was made with new metals. It was something new and powerful. Improved. 

But what had the humans saw? 

The humans saw a ship. 

A spaceship. 

And when they saw it they smiled. 

And all the Andalites could do about this was dread. All they could do was pretend to be the allies they should be. Because they apprehend that 'after' there _will_ be a war. A new war. 

And it wasn't like the little 'primitive' humans did not know this. The Andalites knew that the humans understood. 

The humans understood perfectly, they saw it from end to end. 

But what did _they_ do? 

They mimicked their allies. For they too became allies as well, temporary allies. 

And as the war played out and the humans were no longer primitives; all the Andalites stood back their dread grew stronger. 

The humans were smart, cleaver, ruthless, cunning. And there were no longer a corrupt people to please. Humans had evolved intellectually. 

Yes, for now when you brought a group of humans together and said all hell is going to break lose. They will stand fast, demand a reason, then they will evaluate and act upon this. 

And if you brought a human and told it that all hell is going to break loose…ah…a human will say "If there is a hell around here, _I_ will break it loose." 

But what if you brought an Andalite? And told _it _that al hell is going to break loose? That after the great enemy, the Yeerks had been defeated, all hell is going to break loose. 

The Andalites will act smartly, plead and try to find a way out, to negotiate, even though it is too late. Even though it was too late. 

But a human is rational. Even though the people are not… 


	2. M.A.S.S

NB NB; the date is written; day/month/year M.A.S.S

Twenty years after the defeat… 

_ _

_ABOARD THE HUMAN WARSHIP TIGRON_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 11:34_

_DATE: 21/05/2020_

_LOCATION: PIRANAS' NEBULA_

_ _ **MAJAR GENERAL ASI  **

I leaned back on the backrest of my chair. Dropped whatever it was that I was eating back on my plate, pushed the plate away, displaying my poor desire for food, even though there was no one around to see it.

I sighed and leaned back further, rocked back on the chair so that two of the legs were suspended in the air, keeping my balance so that I don't tilt over and crash to the ground.

I cast a glance at the open view-port.

Closed my eyes, for a moment or two, trying to relax. It was the only time I could have my Si off. And when your Si is off you could relax slightly, loosen your nerves. I wouldn't have to hear all the errands to be done, I wouldn't have to race around and wrap up work here and there, not have to worry about some crushing decision that could cost the lives of thirty human warriors. 

Military, I'm in the military. Actually, I played a crucial part in developing the human military. 

My name is Asi. Pronounced 'Ass-i'. A, soft s. 

And it is after me that the female human warriors were named. I made them. I had them exist.

What was funny about this was that the male human warriors had never had a name until _after_ the human female warriors had a title. 

The male warrior had a title. It was Masi. Soft s, light i. 

Like my name, I loved the light ring to the 'i's. 

The human military, M.A.S.S. consisting of the _Masi_, male warriors, _Asi_, female warriors, _Sem-i_, they were cadets, and then there was the _Sasi_. 

The Sasi ran the war council. They were intelligence officers. They were the people who planed, plotted and investigated conflicts. They analyzed information and gave us what they could, because I knew for a fact that the Sasi knew everything, and they were not willing to share that _'everything'_. 

Little is known, or is made known about the Sasi's internal structure, who rules, who is the real person who's issuing orders…which is just as good because decisions that are made are hard and cruel. Nothing of the decisions should leak to the…what were they called? They gave themselves a fancy, posh name, but I couldn't remember it…what was it? CeeCee? It was how they said. Yes it was. 

The C.C. The commoner's committee. Well known as the sissy's committee by soldiers as they are constantly joking about the nonsense they are on about. 

The C.C are a pain, they are mostly poets, historians, scientists and writers who debate the importance of this or that. Nevertheless they play an important role. They constantly remind one how to act human, and respect human values. They are also the reason that humans are still the way they used to be twenty years ago…after the before.

Stupid isn't it? I should say after the defeat. But I am a person who does not admit to defeat. It was because of this stubbornness that I was able to survive the 'boy's club'. 

You see, I was the _first_ female warrior. And…well it was rough. I had to prove myself every single second of the day… 

Major general Asi. The _only_ female major general. It is a shame, really, I would have wanted more of the _Asi_ to gain higher ranks, but the bulk of the _Asi_ were warriors, soldiers, not generals. 

There were a few that I knew about, and one of them is a friend and an addition to my family Jordan. _Asi_ Jordan, I should say. She hasn't been promoted yet. 

I glanced back at my plate; I poked the food and narrowed my eyes at it. What was it that they were serving these days? Fish? Chicken? I tasted it again yes it is chicken…

The doors of the lunchroom slid open and lieutenant Dominic walked in. I cast him a glance then went back to eating.

"Major general Asi." He said, saluting, "I am sorry to disturb you but there has been an emergency, they called for you."

They, be assured that it is almost always _they_. 

I barged out of the lunchroom, touching the black earpiece that was connected to a collar around my neck. My Si switched on.

You may be wondering what a Si is, I will tell; a Si is issued to every human who has enlisted in the army, and when you have one on you neck and ear, you can _never_ get it off, it will be on standby mode when you're sleeping or eating, but other than that it stays on.

The Si has a couple of jobs, all are very important, you may want to think of it as a radio, a transponder, an identification tag and two way communication all in one.

Also, the Si could transmit data directly to your brain, all you have to do is ask for it, you don't have to speak, you can just order up whatever it as you wanted, of course, if it was classified, the computers will check your ID and cross-examine your files, if you are classified to open the file, it's opened, if not… 

The most important job of the Si is absolutely crucial for our survival in this war, if you have a Si on you, no Yeerk could enter your brain, if your Si is being removed, the Si is programmed to copy all of your memories and send them off to a classified region in the Sasi, then memories in you brain are erased. Not completely though, you are left with the knowledge that your Si had wiped out the memory in your brain, you still know your name, the fact that you are in the human military, you wouldn't know your rank, but you will know who are the allies and who are the enemies.

This way, all the Yeerks can ever do are two things; threaten to kill the soldier or infest the soldier. They cannot get any information out of him because he hasn't got anything to tell them that is new. Him or her I mean.

Put it this way, the Si wasn't only designed to keep Yeerks from impersonating us; it also would stop any Andalite spy from passing as one of us, where would he get the Si? And what if he did? It wouldn't have the correct identification number.

The second my Si was switched on, I heard captain Darrell in my head, my earpiece I mean.

_"Major general, we are facing a bad situation here, we've got another blade ship coming towards us and the current blade ship has yet to be terminated."_

"Can we make a run for it?" I asked. I pressed my collar in order to get the message through you had to press it or it would not be picked up.

"We can withdraw easily if that is what you mean, I had seen this opportunity yet dismissed it, we cannot run, at least not now."

"You want us to get killed Darrell?"

I could almost see the expression on his face, the way his thin lip pressed together in disapproval.

I understood why, Darrell wants us to push this fight; he wants everyone to push the fight, any fight, any battle, work against insane odds like we humans are known to do. But this is not allowed, the human army has yet to grow, we cannot afford huge numbers of casualties. 

"We needed to maintain our numbers captain. You know the drill, so why do you want me to repeat it? Let us not waste time, is there any real reason why we cannot run?"

_"Yes major general. There is,"_ there was a pause.

"Captain?"

No answer. I pressed my earpiece maybe I missed it? 

I picked up my speed and headed to the bridge fast. I was almost there when I heard Darrel.

_"Sorry about that, but we're facing mayhem in the stars."_

I cursed to myself and hit the bridge.

The bridge wasn't huge, it couldn't be; we are a dispatch from our great mother ship _Planet Earth_. Our ship is a small warship, I've seen bigger, but we had to make it to Piranas' nebula quick, we were called to assist the battered Dome Ship _Blaster_. 

As I entered the bridge, the open view port showed that the Dome Ship _Blaster_ was not going to blast anything away. In fact, it was being cut away in space; I could see numerous Andalite fighters and bug fighters filling normal space and battling it out.

"Should we send our fighters in?" captain Darrel asked.

"No."

He tensed again, this time with a hint of anger flashing in his eyes. Again I knew and understood why. He was captain of this ship. It was _his_ ship, but I was a major general, and he ranked bellow me, he had no choice but obey. Obey me, a woman.

"Not yet." I amended, why bruise his swollen ego? What possible motive had I behind it? None.

"Then what are you waiting for?" he said nastily, "Leave our allies out there?"

I almost sighed, "You consider them as allies?"

"They are our most powerful allies. You know that."

"Let's stop arguing." I said calmly, "There is hardly enough time."

I swear I am going to make Mac pay for this, he is my superior officer, and he's the one who assigned me to Darrel. That clown. He knew Darrel and I disagreed over a lot of things and Darrel hated my guts. What was Mac's problem anyways?

Mac is a high-ranking officer of the _Sasi_, it is to him that I report.

"How is their progress?" I asked.

"The team we deployed?"

"Yes. Have they met the objective?"

"Three seconds, they're bailing out."

"Good." the team we deployed had an objective; it was to disable the blade ship.

"But we still have another blade ship."

I nodded, contacting the computers I read the data concerning the Blade ship's movements. "It will be here in ten minutes."

"We have to act fast." He said, "Deploy all fighters!"

"NO." I yelled, stopping the officer who had started to obey his order.

"Why not, Asi?"

"That's major general to you!" I snorted, "And let me remind you, captain, the _Sasi_ had me appointed here, and that means that I have to follow their orders, which also means that _you_ have to follow _my_ orders. Is that clear?"

He was quite. So I had to puncture his ego. I did not care. He pushed me, I don't usually press my dominance, sure I was a major general, but I am a leader too, what is a leader with many enemies and people who dislike her? How can we function properly.

"Good." I said. I may have sounded calm, but I was tingling, it was true that it was the _Sasi's_ orders not to deploy the fighters, but I myself had not understood why.

Why did Mac not want us to help this batch of Andalites? It made no sense.

"Six minutes for the blade ship to intercept the Andaite dome ship."A warrior called out.

"The Andalites do not know that we are here? Do they?" I asked.

"No." He replied. "We're screened off from their sensors."

I turned to the nearest warrior, "Then let them know we are here."

"Yes, sir."

I bit back a smile, sir; you would have though they'd have said ma'am or something. But sir will do.

The second we were detected an incoming message was received.

"Put him online." Darrel said.

Humans, we need your help! Our great dome ship is soon to be destroyed, the captain is going to fire all weapons-

I stepped towards the screen, "We have disabled the first blade ship." I said, "There is a second one coming, we will never be able to save you from it. However, we are deploying our fighters to assist you."

Captain Darrel stared at me, then snapped out of the trance he was in and started to bark out his orders.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The Andalite looked at me with what could have been desperate eyes. I am Prince Noroa-Distl-Atamol. 

"Okay, Prince Noroa," I said calmly, watching the view-port, I saw a great deal of Andalite fighters running to Z-space. "Of your fighters that cannot make it to Z-space tell them to dock aboard our ship."

He nodded grateful.

_Tritt Tiritt_

My hand reached out automatically to my collar, to receive the message. But I stopped short. Realizing my caller.

I turned to the captain, "He's all yours."

I left the bridge and entered my quarters. I answered the call, it was Mac. I used the computer to allow a visual, real time transmit. Secure channels of course.

"Well, well, well."

"News travels like fire these days huh?" I said, trying not to smile at the hologram in front of me.

"Asi." The sturdy man in front of me shook his head sadly; his short-cropped white hair had just a hint of gray in some areas. He had bright blue eyes that seemed to carry a warm smile. I was glad he was not angry.

"You love to dismiss my orders. Major general." He said, Mac might have been in his early forties but his eyes were those of a twenty year old. The man had a kind warm sprit. I supposed, but that was only because he was in a particularly good mood. He isn't usually like this; usually I'd have to put up with his indifferent cold stare.

"You are going to punish me or something?" I asked lightly, this time I smiled I could not resist it.

He groaned, "No, no. You did fine, no one is angry, actually, the contrary, they are pretty pleased."

"_What?_"

Since when were the _Sasi_ pleased about anything we military people ever did, they were always criticizing us.

"You heard me," He said, suddenly, his blue eyes grew serious "We need you on the mother ship."

"Why? What happened?"

"The _Sasi_ had made a decision." He paused. I waited for him to go on.

"Asi." He said suddenly, "You do know who the animorphs are, don't you?"

"The morph capable humans?" I asked, "But they are dead."

"Hmmm, not really. Not that-"

"They are alive?" I said, I was surprised, "But you told us that they had died. You said they were killed during…during the defeat."

"Hmmm, not really. Listen-"

"The _Sasi_ held it a secret?" I was astounded, the feeling didn't last long, I felt my anger flare.

"We held them in a deep freeze." He replied stonily, "It was the only way to keep them alive. We are taking them off the deep-freeze."

"But why. Why all this time?" I asked.

No answer. I wasn't surprised. 

"It's all part of the plot isn't it?" I said.

No answer. Mac's eyes seemed to stare blankly through me. "Okay. Okay." I said, switching to English, until then I was speaking in Galard. "So what is it?"

"You have to board on the mother ship, then you will see what al this is about. Only then."

I said a word I wouldn't have wanted to repeat, and then I said. "This is payback? Isn't it?"

"How's your arm?" He said, changing the subject.

"Nothing bad with my arm."

"Then why is it in a cast?"

I looked down, "It broken." 

"You might want to switch back to Galard, major general, believe me, your arm isn't the only thing that's broken."

"You are mocking my English?" I said with a hint of sarcasm. "You're lucky I bothered learning it, English man."

"American."

"Whatever." I said in Galard with a slight sneer, "You're all the same."

"Be there, major general. It shouldn't take long for you to come. And oh," he said looking blandly at me, "get those Andalites as well. How many fighters made it to our dock? Five?"

"I don't know. I haven't checked." I said, "What is it you want from them?"

"Classified major general that's classified." He winked and the hologram flicker off. 


	3. Return of the animorphs

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year RETURN OF THE ANIMORPHS

__

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 21:51_

_DATE: 31/05/2020_

_LOCATION: CLASSIFIED_

_ _ **RACHEL **

I saw light.

I was in a dark tunnel, a feeling that I was being towed through it, my arms and legs uncooperative, dragged behind. 

I stayed like this for timeless time. I did not know who I am, what I was doing, why I was not reacting to this state of high tranquility, and inner peace. 

But the peace was being disturbed. And now I was being forced out of the dark mud colored tunnel. 

At first it was a pinpoint of light, a burning star. The tug was weak, movement slow. 

But right then and now, the speed had picked up, the mud-like color of the tunnel was turning bright with life. My brain –a feeling that it had been switched off- switched on. 

It was slow at first, just like the movement and the light. Bit by bit, my memory was coming back to me. 

The basics first; like who am I? What is my name? 

My name is Rachel. 

And with it the complications of my life, the drill you are used to hearing. I am not going to repeat the drill. The threat, the warning. Warning about the war, threat of losing humanity. You know. 

This essential part of my life had been reopened like a book and reread by me. And when I finished reading. The tranquility and peacefulness evaporate. It was like a splash of cold water in my face. A slap. _Wake up!_

I tried to move. I couldn't. So I panicked. I could see nothing, even though I knew my eyes were moving beneath heavy eyelids. My heart hammered, my brain raced. 

No! This couldn't be true! 

Was I captured? Oh god, it finally happened, I'm a controller! The others! Tobias, Jake, Cassie, Ax and Marco! I couldn't betray them! 

I tried to break free of the invisible bonds that held me down. At first it was impossible, but slowly, the bonds loosen, and then they were no longer there. 

In front of me I saw a door. The door yawned open. And then bright light. Blinding light. 

I squinted, lifted my arm to shield my eyes.

"She is awake, major general." Then as an after thought, "Sir." 

My eyes adjusted painfully. 

I was in a featureless room with cream-colored walls. I blinked rapidly and realized that I was lying on my back on a narrow steel table. I jerked up. I felt dizziness wash over me instantly. "Lay down." I heard a voice say, "It will take a moment or two for you to function normally. Do not attempt to get up." 

I tried to look for the voice source where was it? It came -to my surprise- from a human, he must have been around twenty years old, his brown hair was cut short, he had a black collar round his neck and connected to it was an earpiece. 

"Fine." Said another voice, "_Masi_, you shall leave us alone."

"Yes, sir."

I looked around, but I did not see any 'sir' all I saw was a woman in her mid-thirties, her hair was cut boy style, short for a girl, but I saw that there was four locks of hair that were allowed to grow at least four inches longer than her short hair. Two fell down on either side of her face and another two trailed down her neck. 

She had hard brown eyes, a lightly tanned complexion and I noticed that the roots of her hair where no longer black, but had lost their color and gone white. 

She reminded me of my cousin somehow, I didn't know why. 

"I am major general Asi." She said in heavily accented English. I saw that her left arm was in a cast. 

"I'm Rachel." I said, I didn't know what to say, I was confused, and being confused did not render me in a peaceful or friendly mood, so I bluntly added, "Where on Earth am I?" 

"You are nowhere on Earth." She replied simply, "But on Earth just the same." 

"What?" 

"You are on the human mother ship _Planet Earth_." She explained, "Our own planet was lost to the Yeerk scourge twenty years ago." 

My brain went numb with shock. 

"We lost?" I whispered. Then something other than shock filled me, I heard an alarm bell ring, "What do you mean twenty years ago?" 

"Twenty years ago we lost." She repeated slowly, as if she thought I was slow or something. 

"I heard that." I snapped, "I meant how, why? What happened? Where are Jake, Tobias, Cassie and the others? Where are my friends? Who are you? What do you mean? I don't understand." 

"Rachel." She said. "Have you looked at your self in a mirror lately?" 

"What? No." 

She nodded to one of the walls there was a mirror. I got off the steel table and walked cautiously towards it, I caught my image. I appeared to be a bit older than my usual self, not twenty years older, say two three years. 

"I'm a few years older than last time I saw myself." I confessed. "But that doesn't explain anything-" 

"After the defeat, a couple hundred humans fled." She said, "Our numbers expanded the past twenty years. Just now, I was called in to see you, the _Sasi_ said they found you in a fighter, locked in deep-freeze." 

"The _who_?" I said sounding annoyed. 

"The _Sasi_. They are the people who run the war council." 

I held up my hands. "I'm lost."

"That is okay." She said gently, "You will be meeting your friends soon." 

I sat down in silence, after a few minutes, Asi touched the collar around her neck, she looked down at me, "It is time, come, you will be escorted to your friends." 

With that a door I had never known to exist slid open, a boy a bit older than me walked in. 

"_Sem-i, _Take her to the preserve, sector twenty-two." 

The boy nodded, saluted her and said, "Yes major general sir!" 

I frowned, wasn't she a woman? 

The boy led me outside another sliding door and soon we were walking down some corridor. 

"I am _Semi_ Shrag." He said, "You are Rachel. You are an animorph." 

I nodded; I didn't know what to say to that. 

As we walked I noticed a few things about him, first of all, he walked stiffly, like a soldier, and he was dressed exactly the same way as the brown haired guy, the uniform was strange though, I couldn't figure out the fabric but it was a silky black, he wore what would have been a T-shirt but with the left sleeve torn off. He had a strange looking bracelet on his left upper arm, and wore what could have been a replica of jeans only it wasn't jeans… 

Like all of the humans I've seen so far, he wore a black collar and an earpiece. He noticed me staring. 

"It is my Si." 

"Your what?" 

He explained. 

I fell silent. I didn't know what to make of it. What was going on here? Was this an Ellimist trick? 

How come the humans are fighting the Yeerks with advanced technology? I felt desperately lost. 

We reached a dead end. I stopped in front of the wall, I looked to see what he would do, Shrag shook his head. 

"These are the door of the drop shaft," when he came near them they slid open. We entered. 

We got off another level and walked down a crowded corridor, no one seemed to notice either of us. 

He stepped up, pushed open double doors that led to a vast area, an area, to my surprise, looked quite similar to an African plan, I saw a herd of wilder beasts and Zebras grazing underneath a zillion stars. 

It wasn't the African plan that caught my breath. It was the stars above me, and the sheer vastness of the area. 

Shrag led me to what looked like wooden picnic tables and on them were… 

Rachel! Tobias yelled. 

"Tobias!" I gasped, "Jake! Cassie! Marco! And…Ax?" 

I frowned, "Where's Ax?" 

Jake shrugged. Tobias said, They wouldn't tell us. 

I sat down, looked at my friends, "Did they tell you?" 

One by one they nodded. 

"Do you believe it?" I demanded, "Is this some kind of Ellimist trick? It is isn't it? We didn't lose, we couldn't. Right?" 

Marco looked at me with what could have been pity in his eyes he looked away. I looked at Cassie and she too turned away. I looked at Tobias but his fierce glaring eyes told me nothing. Jake, he would know. 

I looked at Jake, "It's a trick right? He'll take us back to fight, right?" I stared hard at him, 'Right?" I pressed. 

Jake shook his head slowly. 

"No. It's a trick." I said, my voice cracking slightly, "We had it there, we were going to win, we believed it, it's just a trick, he'll take us back right?" I was shaking now. 

"Rachel…we lost." Jake said. 

He said it simply, like there was no doubt about it. 

"NO!" I said loudly, "We didn't. Remember yesterday? We were planning to take down the main Kandorona. We were there!" 

"Rachel." Jake said sadly, "Yesterday was twenty years ago." 

"No." I whispered, it was like a punch in the stomach, I felt empty and hollow. We lost. 

More than six billion humans lost to them, no it couldn't be, this was all a dream, right? 

I looked at my friends, they all looked like they were a few years older than what would have been yesterday. 

But that couldn't be because yesterday was twenty years ago. 

"I have a question," I said coldly, I glared at the boy who called himself Shrag, I walked right up to him, grabbed his shoulder, spun him round and said, "If we were in deep-freeze for twenty years, doesn't that mean we would be either twenty years older or not changed at all?" 

"No. You must have grown a few years older." He said with a shrug, "They didn't tell me the exact details of the findings." 

"Yeah, you know what? I don't think you're real. I don't think you exist actually, so let me try something…" 

His eyes flickered towards mine for a few seconds then he ignored me, resumed his blank, I'm-on-guard expression. Turned around, faced out. 

He didn't see me change. 

He didn't see me grow. 

But my friends did, "Rachel!" 

I ignored them this wasn't real. And I intended to prove that. I stood on two, stubby, brown legs and drew back my arm, and with my dim bear vision I aimed my hooked claws. 

I aimed them to connect solidly at his neck. 

"LOOK OUT!" 

"Rachel NO!" 

But the boy had long reacted to their words; he spun round, his eyes wide in surprise, stumbled back, mouth gaping. 

He unfroze and grabbed what looked like a shredder from a belt round his waist, aimed, he froze again, so did I. 

"No." Jake said to the guy, "Wait!" 

His eyes flickered towards Jake, he touched his collar, "I think we have a problem here." 

I demorphed and ten seconds later, a whole bunch of humans dressed just like him appeared from a tree line, they surrounded us… 

Amongst them was a girl. 

She had dark brown eyes and dark hair, it was cut just like that woman, Asi, when the girl looked at me, her mouth dropped open, she stared.

"_Rachel!?_"

"Jordan?" 


	4. Mother wolf...father human

NB NB; the date is written; day/month/year MOTHER WOLF...FATHER HUMAN

__

_ON PLANET EARTH_

_TIME: MID-NIGHT_

_DATE: END OF WINTER_

_LOCATION: NORTHERN VALLEY- TERRITORY BOUNDARY OF XILIL'S PACK_

_ _ ****** WOLF CUB -_SILVERN_ **

Five months old and lucky.

Or at least, one of the _luckier_ ones, once, not so long ago, he was born with six siblings, his litter consisted of eight actually, one never made it to live another hour.

What he remembered most was when he first glanced at the wall of moving fur, at his mother, in their warm dark den. She was a handsome creature.

She had two pointed ears, her entire body was covered with white and light brown thick fur, her bright eyes glittered in the dim lair, looking at her face, and the only thing he could see from his position on the ground was her snout, the tongue that dangled out from her black drawn lips, and the tips of her upper jaw teeth.

He had cast a look at his siblings, all similar versions of himself, standing ungainly on four little paws. Short tails stuck out behind them.

But that was in the summer, now was winter, and many of his pack had not made it.

There were only three cubs now; he was the eldest of them all, the strongest, and the one whose chances of survival seem the best.

But winter was finally over, the snow had melted and so had the frost off the grass, grass that was growing anew. This seemed to lift the pack's spirit.

The cub, whom I have no name to call, as wolves don't give each other names but recognize each other's aroma and this way they identified themselves and others, stood at the top of a hill, ears forward and his little snout pointed towards the ground. 

He wagged his tail slowly; he was excited, just a bit. He caught sent of something new, but it was an old sent, stale, he investigated the nearby area to see if he could find a fresher version.

He lifted his head at the approach of one of his siblings, she was the dark furred one, a she-wolf, her fur as dark as the night itself and her eyes had the forest's green, but her fur wasn't pure black, it had a plash of gray and white fur in some areas. He, on the other hand, had taken his mother's pure white fur, his eyes were a golden brown.

But since he was a youngster, his fur still had splashed of darker fur. They would disappear as his grew older.

His sister caught the scent and investigating along side him. She lifted her head suddenly, alarmed, no, just a pack member, a one-eyed gray wolf, eight years old.

He seemed to recognize the sent, his head snapped back and he called for the others.

Soon the entire pack stood along the cubs, tracking the scent.

They scouted the valley and stumbled across something strange, at least, for the young cubs it was strange, for the elders this seemed to disturbed them. They were studying a set of prints in the damp, sodden soil.

Human tracks.

A set of human tracks, male, very old too, and alone.

The pack members stirred, some had enough sense to leave, soon, all but the female alpha, her white cub stood alone, his sister had left them.

The female alpha continued to track the sent. Soon they were within range of the creature they were perusing.

It was a bizarre creature, strange but somewhat familiar, it was familiar in ways of sent, it was a red blooded animal, from Earth, not the same could be said about the other visitors of the forest, they were only interested in the bark of trees and they came to collect it at certain times of the year, then they would leave.

His pack had always avoided them.

But then his pack were always avoiding anything that stood on two legs and was over five feet tall.

Like the human.

The cub had once seen a creature like this one, but he was too far away to catch a sent.

So this was how a human smelt and this too, was it's tracks, the cub strayed away from the trees and followed his mother. She was gazing at the human. 

"Oh moon light…" The human raised an arm at the night sky, "Tell me I am sane, tell me I am free and well, for the sun had me yesterday, I almost thought I was dead."

The human circled a small fire surrounded by round stones, "I, Achivil the great, am still very well alive," he raised a strange, hollow object to his lips and the young cub watched with fascination as water dribbled down from his lips.

A dry, husky laugh came from the creature, and it continued to make the strange noises, the cub wondered if it was calling for it's kind, "Ahhh, how's it like to be the only…only…only freeee human on Ea-rth?" He drank again, the cub came a bit closer, close enough to realize that whatever it was drinking, it wasn't water, it had a strange strong smell. His mother stepped beside him, watching the human intensely.

"Lone-ly." The thing sobbed, "Veryyy lonely, moon, do you know what lonely is? Maybe you do, you've been hanging like a stupid cow in the sky through out my life and others, so, you experienced lump of POCKMARKED ROCK," The cub jerked back startled at the raised voice.

"WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE LONELY? _Isolated_ in the sky," The voice was no longer a scream, just a bitter yell, "where beneath you, life goes on, you are there to watch it, not take part of, having nothing, not anything to do with it…just watching…time goes on…you age."The human slumped towards the ground; his mother cast a look around, crouched to the ground. The cub huddled beside her.

"Oh, noooo, I'm looooseing it, help me…" It snorted and lolled around at the ground, his mother stood up and walked quietly towards the human, the cub's ears pricked forward, was this a hunt?

The human didn't notice her approach, the cub felt a surge of adrenaline, but his mother wasn't hunting. She stood watching the human with her ever-silent eyes.

He finally noticed her, standing only three feet away. He jerked and cast a look at the ground, his's gaze fell on a shaped thing that appeared to be made from skin the color of a deer's, it had something black and glinting inside it, the human watched his mother stood up, then slumped again.

"Miserly loves company, wolf, want to howl at the moon along side me?"

The cub didn't understand any of the noises the human made, but his mother seemed to know what it meant, but she stood, quiet, unmoved.

The human reached towards the ground and held something for his mother, it was meat, deer meat. Just the though of meat got the cub to move towards his mother, the human watched then extended his arm towards the cub, the cub sprang back against his mother, startled. Snarled a little.

"Ah, your little one, I've had a little one once, but she's dead, sad isn't it?" The human made another sobbing sound, "Are you hungry little fellow?"

His mother sat down, beside the human, she wasn't disturbed by what he did next, he had placed a hand on his mother's skull, then removed it.

"Little one, little one lost in the woods," The human muttered, "I can't find it."

His mother cast a look at the human.

"See, wolf it's like this, a few days ago I heard crying." It paused, "Crying of a child, a human child, somewhere in the woods. A free human child on Earth, the only one.

"I looked and looked and searched, I left my home valley and still didn't find the child. Now, wolf, if you are as smart as legends tell you to be, what do you do with it if you find it? Hmm?

"Kill it? Eat it? Leave it? Noooo, no, no, no." Pause, he brushed the alpha's fur, "We humans had been a pain to all creatures, gray wolf, but if I must tell you, we are the only things that's going to bring back old Earth to all creatures, before it's too late, what do you think wolf?" 

The cub's mother settled at the ground. To the drunk human, it was as if a very large dog decided to sit beside its master, a comfort in the cold bitter mountain air.

"Now, wolf, I found…I found the child, but I am no mother." It paused, "And even if I was, what would I do with it?" another pause thoughtful, "Let me explain wolf. Earth isn't going to come back easily, and humans are trying their best to do it, but time is called for the wilder part of Earth to rise and fight back."

"I have a human child for you, you mother wolf will raise it. Show it your ways, the ways of the forest and wild, cancel the human greed, bond with the wild, break the isolation between animal and man, show the…" The human coughed, "Let it learn your language, let him live wild, and when he grows bring him to me, I will teach him how to be human, if only you teach him how to be wild first."

"Here mother wolf, your species' breeding season is soon to be, with your new litter, you shall foster this orphan child and when it is time, bring him to me, hopefully, age wouldn't have got the better of me."

The human stood up, walked to a strange structure, like a cave only different, hollow inside, and pointed at the top, he came back out carrying something in his arms, "Take him. Mother wolf, show him nature's ways."

His mother sat beside the thing in rags, to the cub's surprise it was alive and moving, he ventured towards it.

"What shall I call him? The to be hero?" The man muttered, "Oh I don't know, just call him human now. Man-child. Man cub, just take that thing out of my face."

The cub stared at the thing; it was hard to make out what it was.

"Maybe, this will work out well.." The human looked deep in his mother's eyes, "Maybe, I am too old too see. Maybe, some spring, Earth will bloom again."

His mother took the rags between her teeth and carried what's in it to her new den. Her white cub wasn't far behind. 


	5. Mother ship Planet Earth

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year. This part is told in third person narrative. MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH 

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 10:21_

_DATE: 01/06/2020_

_LOCATION: OBSERVATION 410_

There is a child.

His name is Lynn. This child has a sister her name is Annabelle. 

Lynn is a fifteen-year-old; his small sister Annabelle is almost seven months old, in her mother's womb. She is yet to be born. 

From a distance Lynn looks like a decent, kind, gentle boy, he is, when he is in the right mood for it. 

And when he's not, he spends his time huddled in a corner, rocking in a fetal position, mumbling, half whispering to himself. 

When his mother calls he does not respond to her. At a state like this, little Lynn lives in a world of his own. 

He stares off into space, muttering in an incoherent, alien language. Rocking, his back brushing the corner he is in, at certain intervals, after a time, the rocking speeds up, his arms which would have been wrapped round his shoulders, cradling himself, will have reached up and clasped over the sides of his head, then they would crawl down to his ear. His rocking would grow furious, his lips moving fast but no audible sound reaches the ear. He reaches a state where tears start rolling down the side of his face, he would rock harder still, in silence, then burst in a full out blood curling scream that would send chills down your spine. Then the clawing would begin. 

It is when he reaches this stage he is to be restrained, he already has many scars all accounted from his early childhood. 

Lynn was first autistic at the age of two; it was a mysterious thing, because the boy was a healthy normal little creature. But it had left him for a few years, only to make a comeback. It was dreadful because his fits are intense these days; they never were this like this -never this extreme. 

But there is a reason behind this comeback, and why it was so severe, little Lynn had witnessed his father's cold-blooded murder. He will never be free of its taint again. 

His mother, who was overwhelmed with grief found it hard enough to cope with her husband's sudden brutal death, let alone look after violent Lynn. 

And there was the pregnancy; a new child was to be born, her name is already chosen, Annabelle. 

The American child Jordan -adopted by Mia, Lynn's mother- had said it was playing with fate as well as extremely bad luck to name a child before it had been born. Besides, Mia had only predicted that her baby is a girl, there was no doctors who had confirmed this to her-she didn't want it to be confirmed as she was very sure it was a girl. 

But the doctors knew the gender of the baby, and where secretly impressed. 

Jordan had once asked how Mia knows if her child is a girl or a boy, and Mia had said that 'Annabelle talks to her mother' during her dreams, and that she hears her mother's voice and longs to feel her touch. 

Lynn, the fifteen year old autistic boy was sitting at a table, the room was not an especially large one, there were dozens of drawings hung here and there, all drawn by Lynn himself. There was a dark window. He knew it was for observation. Which was why he had to keep his guard up and his act perfect. He didn't know that the doctors were quite skeptic about his behavior, they say something is quite not right, even for an autistic child. 

Today he was given something new. He was given modeling clay to play with; he didn't like it very much but explored this new thing. 

He had an image in his mind; he wanted to see it in clay. 

He held the clay in his hands, felt it and then started shaping it in a ball. He rolled this ball on the table to form a round oval, he picked up the oval and twisted the last third of it making it look like an oval with two ovals swirling smoothly around the back. 

He twisted the front part of the oval, twisted and shaped it to form a diamond head with a thrust 'beak'; he bunched some of the clay that was behind the beak to form a bird like head, with crest feathers that rose like sharp blades. 

He smoothed out the middle of the oval and brought out two long graceful wings, these wings illustrated a bird flaring. 

Going back to the end part of the oval, he shaped the two small twisted ovals so that they remained ovals but had a display of sharp feathers sticking out, his hands traced the shape of the oval and reached again for the head, he started adding details with a sharp wooden stick. 

He was too absorbed with his work to notice that someone had entered the room, and when that person called his name he didn't look up. 

At first, he assumed that it was his mother, but remembered that she had gone to the hospital wing for observation; they said there were complications; he wasn't sure what that meant. 

Then it must be his adopted sister, Jordan, or the doctor. 

He was wrong. 

"Lynn." His auntie said, "I need to talk to you." 

It was his mother's sister, Asi. 

He didn't look up at her, didn't show any signs that he had heard her. 

"Lynn?" 

No answer. She came over to him and sat beside him. She glanced at what he was making, "It's beautiful Lynn." 

He looked up at her eyes, "It's our mother ship, _Planet Earth_. But it isn't what you military people call her, you call her the _She-Eagle_." 

He looked down at his work, trembled. 

Something was wrong, and he saw it in Asi's eyes. They looked misty and her nose was slightly red, so were her eyes. She had been crying. 

"Lynn?" Her voice was trembling slightly. "Did they tell you anything?" 

He stood up and placed his work in a heating oven, he waited for it to bake. It only takes a few seconds. 

"Lynn, your mother…" 

He took his little model out and placed it on one of the shelves, he grabbed a sheet of paper and a pencil, started drawing. 

"Lynn. You want to see Annabelle?" 

He stopped drawing, "But she's in mother. Isn't she?" 

"No." She whispered, "She isn't." 

He went back to drawing. "Then she was due?" 

"No." 

He shrugged. As if saying; 'I don't understand'. 

"Lynn, your mother had been having complications with…" She trailed off. Lynn had got off the table and pressed his face close to the fish tank, it stored ten fish all were named by Asi's sister Mia. 

He knew what was coming next, he had feeling that the worst had just happened. 

"Where's mom?" 

"You want to see your little sister?" 

"Where's mom?" He clenched his fists. 

"She's gone." 

Gone? Lynn's mother? Lynn took a step away from the fish tank, then another step away from Asi. "NO!" He shouted. 

"Lynn." Asi stood up. She froze her hand brushed her Si. She shook her head. "I'll come back later." She glanced at the dark observation window and cocked her head at Lynn. 

Lynn glared at the back of Asi's head with hatred. She was always busy, and she always had an excuse for leaving in the most awkward of times. 


	6. Interrogation

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year. INTERROGATION

__

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 10:31_

_DATE: 01/06/2020_

_LOCATION: INTERROGATION ROOM 008_

** MAJOR**** GENERAL ASI**_ _

I walked round him in a circle, I glanced at one of the highest ranking, most respected _Masi_ in the human military, Admiral Roger Coopers, otherwise just called Admiral. 

"You demand answers to questions you want answered, but before we do that we need answers to the questions we asked." 

We were in an interrogation room, not a big one, I was interrogating the Andalite, the one they call Ax. 

I refuse to cooperate. 

"On what grounds?" Admiral asked. 

You have not provided me with the information I have asked for. 

"You asked for a lot of things," I said airily, "Repeat which of those you want." 

Behind an observation window, I knew that at least three high ranking members of the Sasi were watching us, one of those were Mac. I was sure of it. I also knew that they were recording this cross-examination. 

The Andalite glared at me with his main eyes, What have you done with my friends? 

"You mean the humans that have befriended you?" I asked. Both Coopers and I were speaking in Galard, "Surely you must have known that no Andalite would befriend a human at that time, why were you so different?" 

The admiral and I had an objective to reach, we wanted to reveal information we could hold against the Andalite government, evidence that humans have treated the Andalites with respect and in return, we have got nothing from then. We also wanted to confirm some of the things that happened on Earth. Little was known about the past conflicts of the animorphs. 

He started at me, there was no way that he could have known why I needed answers to these question, the reason he was not told was because we wanted the 'right' answers, not the truth, just the right answers. 

His eyestalks dropped slightly, They rescued me from the bottom of the Earth ocean. 

"Is that all they did?" 

He hesitated, looked slightly, ever so slightly puzzled, No they did many great things to me; hiding me and keeping me alive were only two. 

"I see." Coopers said, "Is it true that you have come in direct contact with your people?" 

Yes. 

"They were on a mission I take it, what did they say? Their mission was to assassinate Visser Three?" 

He looked surprised, How did you know that? 

"So it was true." I arched my eyebrow at the admiral; it's this easy to get this guy to confess? I thought it would have been harder to get the truth out of an Andalite… 

I've been told that the information I've been given was all rooted from the animorphs' brains as they were in the deep-freeze, the _Sasi_ had used all the twenty years to go through the animorphs' life's and each animorph had a…well you could call them profilers. 

That's what we call them anyway, their job is to analyze personalities and determine the characters of human beings or aliens. By knowing this, the profilers could outline a rough reaction of that person to a certain situation. They also give us the short cut to 'cracking' a person under interrogation or panic an enemy into rushing things…they are quite useful in another way as well, the profilers could more or less read or interpret Andalite behavior and expressions. That too is useful.

Especially for determining the truthfulness of an Andalite communication.

They have been known to throw a white lie here and there.

Admiral said, "And why haven't they succeeded?"

This was the crucial part, we wanted it coming from an Andalite. Not from a human. This way it was more believable for the arrogant Andalites.

Because… He paused, hesitated, and went on, Because this wasn't what they had in mind.

"What?" I said, "An Andalite lying to an Andalite? Surely that is unheard of."

He hesitated again, They wanted to unleash a virus that would kill the Yeerks…

"But?" Admiral pushed.

But it would have proven fatal to humans as well.

"And you reasoned with them? They listened to you?"

No, he scuffled a hoof, We stopped them.

"We?"

The ainmorphs and I.

"You consider them as part of you?"

They considered me as part of them.

"And you were grateful?"

Yes.

"You fought for the humans? Or did you just fight because you were fighting the Yeerks?"

Both.

"You considered the humans as your people?" Coopers asked gently.

Any people that fight and resist the Yeerks are my people.

Admiral raised an eyebrow at me, I said, "Really? I don't suppose your people taught you that, did they?"

He looked at me, and at Admiral, I learnt that from humans.

"_We've got what we need Major General, Admiral_._ You can inform him that his friends are fine._"

I glanced at the admiral, "Your friends are fine Andalite, and they are waiting for you."

They are?

"Yes. I will send someone to escort you." Admiral said.

I got up and left the room, my work here was done. I had other business to attend to. One was Lynn and the other; Prince Noroa.

I left the room offering no explanation to Coopers, nor to the _Sasi_, the _Sasi_ knew some of it I supposed.

I shook my head, this was not going to be an easy year. Especially with the things I have been told. No, not easy at all.


	7. The deception

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year THE DECEPTION

__

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 14:24_

_DATE: 01/06/2020_

_LOCATION: OBSERVATION 410_

** LYNN**_ _

"Leave me alone!" I screamed. I spun round and bolted for the door, I tried to get it to open. But it was locked. I slammed my hand against it desperately. I kept up my act, but another part of me was racing. 

"Lynn…" Asi said, "Lynn you have to listen to me." 

"I HATE you! Leave me alone! MOM!" 

"MOTHER!" I hammered at the door. Jerked my head away from it, glared at the door and screamed, "Let me OUT!" 

Asi shook her head, walked to me and calmly took me away from the door. I beat her with my fists for a while but then stopped. Realizing I wasn't harming her much. 

I looked at Asi, "I want to see her one last time." 

"But you have to promise something to me." 

I was listening. 

"Your mother is gone, you have a small sister, you have me and Jordan. Promise me that you will take care of Annabelle." 

I started at the adult, what was she going on about? I couldn't take care of anything, let alone a little kid. 

And why was Asi so sad, she was never so close with mother, surely she was after something, and whenever Asi was around there was bound to be quarreling. 

But Mai wasn't here to quarrel with manipulative Asi, I felt strangely weak and venerable despite Asi's show of sorrow. 

It was guilt, I realized, but I didn't care if it was or wasn't, I decided to show Asi that I knew why, make her feel a lot of guilt, she deserves it. "Why do you care if mom is dead? You never came by to visit, you rarely do. You were too consumed by with your work, too into it." 

Asi crossed her arms, a hint of her true character revealed, her eyes were cold, "You know what the doctors say little Lynn?" 

I turned away. 

"They say its all an act, that your autistic 'comeback' was no comeback at all, it is all an act." 

I felt a chill run down my spine. 

Asi, knelt to the ground to face me, "They say that a little boy did something bad, and to cover up for his evil act he disguised it with a disease of his past, you want to know why little Lynn? Why your mother was so overwhelmed with grief? She knew, she felt it." 

I jerked back. My eyes wide startled, Asi knew? 

"Very little that happens, Lynn, is overlooked." 

I looked at the ground, "You know?" 

"Of course I do." Asi said with a slight smile, she looked amused, "Lynn I know it was _you_ that killed your father." 

My lip trembled. 

"Don't worry little Lynn, your dirty little secret is mine to keep. After all Mia is dead." 

"I knew you never cared." 

"And nor did you, if you did, you wouldn't have faked being autistic. Lynn you're the one to blame for your mother's death." 

"No." 

"No? I say yes. And let me level with you," She whispered, "I'm not the one who discovered that you are the killer, a few friends in the military confined to me." 

I trembled again, "You said you were the only one who knew…" The penalties for killing another human are very high, and I knew that. 

Asi sighed, "Why did you do it?" 

No answer. 

"You don't have to tell me now, Lynn."She added with a wiry laugh, "You may not have to tell _me._" She paused, "And I have a job for you. The military has a job for you." 

I stared. "I knew you were after something." 

"Jordan." 

"What about her." 

"You know she's one of the animorph's sister. Rachel to be precise." 

"And?" 

"Rachel is alive. You are needed to…" Asi paused, her hand reached for her si, her face revealed nothing about the communication she was receiving, typical, I thought, that was Asi for you. She stood up. "Something came up. I'll have to drop you off at my superior's quarters. He wants to talk to you personally."

I stood silent, "Do I have to?" 

"The way I see it?" She glanced at me, "You haven't got a choice." 

I hunched my shoulders. I allowed myself to be lead away from my little isolated world and was taken to doors that had caution labels in screaming red, first they said 'AUTHORISED PERSONAL ONLY' and later on they read 'AREA RESTRICTED TO MILITARY PERSONAL' after that, 'SASI HEADQUARTERS'. 

There were more labels around referring to sectors and areas I had not known existed, even if I did I wouldn't have known what they had in them. 

I felt scared and definitely out of place, every single person I have seen jostling past us was wearing the classical military outfit, black of course as the majority were soldiers, I saw others that had a si but wore dark blue suits, I think they were the _Sasi_, I wasn't sure. Or maybe they were the military's scientists. 

The only difference between walking down headquarters' corridors and say a war ship's corridors was that in headquarters you were not permitted to carry weapons, only security had those. Even Asi had none on her. 

After passing a few security checkpoints, and had been stopped once or twice for inspection, both Asi and me, although at first Asi could manage to speed things up by bypassing them by identifying herself, but when she reached the _Sasi _her identification had no effect, we were checked, security was tight 

Being checked means that they bio-scan you, check to see if you've got any weapons on you and check your ID and see if you were permitted to enter. 

It was tedious and I had a felling that they were testing Asi's patience, but she had to put off with the procedure, I smirked to myself. 

The satisfaction was short lived, soon, we reached our destination, I felt my stomach turn over a couple of times, I felt sick. 

You know when you're in trouble and you end up being escorted to your principle knowing that your parents are waiting too. Knowing that you have done something wrong and you will get punished for it, that feeling, the cold queasiness made my knees turn to jelly. 

The doors slid shut behind us. I felt as if I were a trapped animal, Asi had a firm grip on my shoulder I wouldn't be running anywhere. Besides, I was on a ship, as big as it was, it wouldn't take them more than half a day to find me if I chose a really good hiding place…but no, I suppose they could track my DNA pattern, search for it, they'd find me in a matter of hours. 

That is, if I managed to out run Asi herself, if I manage to beak free before she calls for backup, if I manage to get out of the M.A.S.S. sector one-zero-one, I knew I was in the depth of the _Sasi's_ headquarters. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide even. 

A man in his forties stood by an open view port, he was looking out at normal space, I could see stars and a nearby solar system. A gigantic planet, purple and dirty yellow in color was the closest, I watched as I saw a couple dozen of our fighter approach it and a few scout ships trail behind them. 

The man turned round and regarded me with indifferent eyes, he said nothing to me, "Good to see you Major General, from what I hear, you have got your hands quite full." 

He nodded at me, Asi glanced at me then at the man, she said, "Well he's all yours, I've got business to take care of." 

He looked at her questionably, they acted as if I was invisible, no, irrelevant, "Prince Noroa." 

"I see." He said. "Be ready major general, their purpose here is not what you expect it to be, they only exist here, to the Andalites they are quite dead." 

That got her attention, "What?" 

"We need them for a few…experiments." 

"Does this have anything to do about the interrogation of the _Aristh_?" 

"They tried to wipe us out with germ warfare, we have to make sure we've got something formidable against them." 

She shivered as if the room was cold, "Do you know where all this is heading?" 

"They wouldn't know about its presence." 

"How many Andalites do we have on this ship anyway?" 

The man pressed his thin lips together. 

She shook her head, "This plot of yours better work. Mac." 

"It's not mine alone." 

"You people are very calculating, but how are the others going to react to this kind of cover up? This could very well lead to corruption of the system." 

"We have everything under control, besides major general," he looked at her blandly, "how different is this from what we used to do?" 

"What?" 

"How different was this from what the countries in position of power did? The governments? They were the people who ruled Earth, you realize that the rest, the politicians and little groups running around were a side play." 

Asi shook her head, "Tell your friends at the _Sasi_ not to bring the madness of Earth back." 

"It is the only way to win." 

Asi shook her head, "We disapprove of it." 

"And who is we?" 

She looked at him for a time, "Us, the soldiers." 

"Good luck with your career major general." 

She stared at him, "What are you implying?" 

"People like you come and go. We have a lots of heroes and heroines, Asi and you know how long they last, the _Sasi_ is not a person, we are a system, and if one of us goes there are others to take his place, Asi, if you go, I doubt that there will be someone to fill your place." 

My aunt was silent for a while, "I don't know Mac, but you're the only one that speaks freely of this, what if I decided to wag my tongue outside the sector?" 

He sighed, "It wouldn't surprise you if I said that you represent the army's opinion." 

Asi shook her head, "No, I suspected this, so you talk to other people." It was a statement, not a question. 

"Good-bye major general." 

Asi saluted him and left me alone. 

The _Sasi_ Mac, looked at me for quite a while without speaking, I was starting to feel as if I were a bug being inspected underneath a microscope or something. I looked at him once but then looked away, not being able to hold his gaze without realizing that he knew what I had done. 

"So. Lynn." He said. "That is your name correct?" 

I nodded. 

"I believe you know why you are here." 

I nodded again, I stared at the ground I couldn't look him in the eye. 

"Cat got your tongue boy?" 

I looked at him with a confused expression. 

"Have you got no tongue? Can't you speak?" 

"No, er yes." 

He laughed, "So it does speak." 

I stared hard at the ground. 

"Can't you look at me?" I heard him say. 

I gave him no answer. 

"Look at me." 

I didn't respond. 

"Don't try my patience little boy." 

I looked up at him, made eye contact. My eyes darted, and then focused on him again. 

"Do you realize the seriousness of your act?" He asked me. 

"Yes, I do." 

"Do you want to tell me anything about it?" 

I wanted to shake my head, say no, I wasn't interested in sharing anything with him, but I had a feeling he wasn't going to take no for an answer. I started to fidget. 

"From your silence I take it that you did it for no particular reason, that you are a sick, twisted human being who enjoys murder, cold blooded murder of his kind, but not just his kind, his own flesh and blood. His own father." 

"NO!" I yelled. 

"Yes, that was what your silence meant." 

"No it wasn't! I didn't say anything-" 

"Then say something and spare me the assumptions." He snarled. 

I was taken back, swayed on my feet. I looked at the _Sasi_ who sat behind his desk. 

I looked around desperately, how could I explain it? "I don't know what to say." I whispered. 

"Why not? You were quite lucid when you did this, you were self-aware." 

"There were the voices…" I said helplessly, I expected him to laugh at me but his expression was more serious than ever. 

"What voices?" 

"They told me what to do, they ordered me to take his life, they said they-" I stopped, I felt like crying. 

"The voices, what did they sound like? Where they like thought speech?" 

"No, they were human voices, cold, harsh and hoarse, they beaconed me in my dreams and…" 

"They called for you? To do what?" 

"At first it was no big deal, lie here, say this, then it took control somehow…I never understood it. At times it felt like…like instinct, they dictated what I should do, and at other times I did them myself." 

"The voices in your head," He made it sound ridiculous, "they told you to kill your father?" 

I nodded and looked at him bitterly, "They told me when to do it and how to do it and where…" 

"Your father worked for us?" He asked me. 

"Yeah, he was a scientist for the _Sasi_." 

"Did the voices tell you why you should kill him?" 

"No." I looked down, "I never asked, but they repeated something about killing the treasonous." 

"And since when did you hear the voices?" 

"From a long time ago." I whispered, "They came to me at night and…after killing my father they told me to act as if my autism came back." 

"You never told anyone of this?" He asked, "Not your mother, not Jordan or Asi?" 

"I had no friends, I've always been living in isolation, my mother was almost always withdrawn, Jordan…well, she's a girl and she's an _Asi_ as well she…I believe she would have thought I was being ridiculous and my aunt? I never saw her except three times in my life, four counting this one." I stopped, then I said, "Besides, they threatened Annabelle's life, they said if I told anyone…they said if I kept quite they will spare her life." 

He looked at me skeptically, as he talked his tone grew ever so serious, "If I find out that you have been lying to me, Lynn, the consequences will be beyond even your already quite active imagination." 

"I understand," I said bitterly. 

He studied me for a while, "I'll have some of our doctor's check to see if there isn't anything wrong with you." 

I raised an eyebrow, "You think I'm insane?" 

"Quite frankly? Yes, and I couldn't imagine where you got it from."


	8. The discovery

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year.

Another note; the concept behind the talking animals and who they believed as being 'Herne' is not a concept thought by myself; I got it from a book called 'Fire Bringer' by David Clement-Davies, its a great story, whenever you've got the chance to read it do so. Marvelous twist at the end. 

THE DISCOVERY

_ON PLANET EARTH_

_TIME: EVENING_

_DATE: END OF WINTER_

_LOCATION: UNCLAIMED TERRITORY, BASE OF HIGH NORTHERN MOUNTAINS._

** SILVERN**_ _

Times were strange, very strange these days. And everyone, everything knew it. 

Every carnivore, herbivore and omnivore in the forest floor or sky knew it. And not just in the forest and woods, but in the mountains too. High lands, low lands and even the sea as well. But there is very little anyone could do about it, we live along side it. 

_ "Open your eyes and ears to see and hear, open your heart and soul to feel. That's the key. Silvern."_

This is what the man-cub told me, and he gave me a name Silvern. 

A name, a new concept. A word or combination of words by which something is called and by means of which it can be distinguished and identified. 

Which is practical, it's very hard trying to tell a fellow wolf you scented the one-eyed wolf when his sent was not near for him to identify, I'd have to take him to the sight, let him sniff around and identify who it was. 

Of course, not all wolves have mastered this abstract concept, there are other concepts which are much, much harder, like trying to communicate across other species, especially those lower down the food chain, even with the ones who are with you along the food chain; it had proved impossible, what can I say, nature has her ways. 

The breeze was a head wind, coming from above the mountain. I caught the scent of the man-cub, I chased after him. 

I caught up, it wasn't hard, he wasn't trying to avoid me. 

Many a time had spring come and left and the man-cub had grown. Mother took him back to the human, that was many a winter ago, and now, the man-cub was growing interested in the thing by the mountain. 

Strange thing it was. It was shaped like an upturned mushroom with a sort of stick in the middle. And it always pointed towards the sky. 

Sometimes unfamiliar unknown humans who smelled strangely of something would come and fidget about it, then leave. But there was at least two humans guarding it. Always. 

Just once, just once I had seen it act like an angered storm. It sent a bolt of lightning towards the heavens, cutting a monstrous, silvery, twisted bird from the sky, tumbling falling to the ground and with it a red flower was born. Fire. 

The older human had wept at the dieing bird. 

He said it was a ship, a ship that had tried to attack ground control. 

I didn't understand anything and left him alone. But young master did understand. And he too was troubled. 

"Silvern." He greeted. I walked beside him but kept my distance. I didn't know why, it was a feeling deep within me, when master asked the older human he had called it instinct of the wild. 

_'Is there something bothering you? Human child?'_ I asked. Indeed noticing his lack of enthusiasm. 

"I would like you to stop calling me that Silvern, I gave you a name and call you by it, why not call me by mine." 

_'Very well human, I mean Herne.'_

"Herne…it's a wolf word isn't it?" The human asked. 

_'It's a word all herla use when speaking of…of him.'_

"Herla?" The human asked. 

_'Herla is a term all animals use when describing other species. A herla of wolves could be deer. Or shrews or you basically.'_

"Okay, who is him?" 

_'Him? I don't know.'_

"You speak of something you don't know about?" 

_'No, I do know what I'm talking about, but explaining it would be hard.'_

"I see." 

I shook myself, a gesture of annoyance, like trying to shake off a flea from my coat, futile, it takes more than a mere shake of your bulk to get rid of the bloodsucking monsters. _'Him is Herne, we have stories of him, stories of Blackwind toying around with Herne, defending all wolves. It's like…fables. Almost, Herne is like a supreme wolf spirit, easily angered, and wolves believe he lives at the top of the four sisters. If any wolf is to stray up there, he is to meet Herne himself and die shortly afterwards, then he would be remembered as a flower of the sky, a star, the brightest is Herne-'_

"Whoa!" The human said, "The four sisters? As in the highest summits of the great mountain?" 

_'Yes,'_ I answered patently, _'You asked me to go with you a time there in spring but I told you it is winter all year on the four sisters, and-'_

"But wait," He interrupted me again, my fur bristled, "The four sisters? As in the four peeks on the great mountain? Wait I thought they were five. Well at least the five that were most pronounced and higher up than the rest." 

_'Yes,'_ I said, _'But the fifth is the highest and the top could never be seen, Herne lives there. It is told from one wolf who survived climbing right up to the third sister, that he heard Herne himself, his song, the wolf said it was strong, harsh and unwavering.'_

"Wait. You mean Herne, the four sisters and this Blackwind wolf, they're real?" 

_'No one knows.'_

"Silvern." The human said after a pause, "Is Herne a wolf god?" 

_'It is a term used by all animals to call forth their strongest.'_

"But did any of your pack, or other packs meet the guy?" 

_'We have stories.'_

"Is he alive?" 

_'No one knows.'_

"So he is a god." The human paused, "Do you believe that Herne is real?" 

_'I don't know.'_I said getting a little uncomfortable, _'Never gave him much thought.'_

"Come on, Silvern, I know you, of all the wolves you think the most, you must have given him some thought. Besides, I've known you to be open minded." 

_'As a young cub yes, but as I grow older I am starting to become doubtful. But…but when times are hard I recall the stories I heard from Barcc, the story teller, I find comfort in them.'_

"What about the four sisters? The great mountain?" 

_ 'It's a long story, maybe some day I will tell you of their stories.'_

"Okay." 

_'You are not usually patrolling this mountain,'_ I said suddenly, _'What are you doing here?'_

"I'm looking for Achivil." He replied sadly, "He has disappeared." 

I looked up at the human, _'Disappeared?'_

"Yeah, I looked all over the place for him, I…I wasn't hoping much, looking for his body actually, or a dead carcass, he is after all, an old man…but," The human paused and looked wistfully at the mountains, "I'm sad to see him go." 

_'Well that is not unusual,'_ I said, _'It is not uncommon for an animal to feel disturbed if a known one is missing.'_

"No, Silvern, I'm not 'disturbed', I'm sad, I'm sad to thinking he's gone. He had been everything, everything to me, an open window to the human soul, without him, I wouldn't have known what is it like to be human… I wouldn't have known…" He trailed off, looked at the stars miserably. 

_ 'They're up there aren't they?'_ I asked, even though I had no idea what I was talking about, once, Herne had tried to explain to me that the humans, had fled to the stars, that they are up there. Somewhere. 

"Yes." His voiced sounded strange, there was a sad note to it. 

_'The wolves would take good care of them.'_I said, trying to reassure him. 

"Silvern, how many times do I tell you they are not dead. They are there, somewhere, I know they are, they…they keep trying to get here, to get back to their home." 

_'What, are they lost?'_

"No, their home was taken by them." He replied patiently. 

_'Taken by them?'_ I asked, puzzled slightly. _'By whom?'_

"The humans that have a queer aroma to them, and the strangers off the valley." 

_ 'Ah well, this is no surprise.'_ I said, _'I was told by my elders that humans often take away homes of other species and most of the time, there is no coming back. But say, isn't it strange that humans try to take away their own homes, away from themselves?'_

"Silvern, they are not human, the queer aroma-" 

_'A subspecies, another breed then?'_ I supplied, _'That would make sense.'_

"No, they are humans ordinary plain humans, but they are not at the same time." 

_ 'What are you talking about? It is a human but it isn't?'_ I laughed, _'I've seen the strange smelling humans and they're exactly like you, they have two legs and walk erectility, just like you, they have two eyes, just like you, they have a solid mane of fur on their heads, just like you, they have arms and five fingered hands which they could use to manipulate objects and use tools, just like you. What is the difference? Apart from the smell?'_

"Silvern. You…you said that your elders were leery of humans, that there are only legends about communication between the species...you think that all of a sudden my understanding of what you say is…coincidental?" 

_'No Herne. I don't know why, but I tell you this much, it is about restoring a balance that was lost long, long ago.'_

"Twenty years ago." Herne confirmed. "The humans that you saw are humans but you see their will…to simplify and cut things down…they're infested." 

_'What?'_I asked. I trotted beside, always keeping my pace. 

"They're like the parasites that infest the skin or like the worms in your stomach." 

_ 'Sometime these parasites are necessary, but others-'_

"Are harmful, even deadly." He finished for me. He looked at me for sometime. 

_'You were saying?'_

"They are a sort of parasite, they infest the brain, and use the body to command it for them." 

_ 'A substitution, making up for their worm like bodies, they seize control of a host body…'_

"They have absolute control." 

_'But they don't kill them?' I asked. 'The humans, I mean?'_

"No, they live powerless." 

_ 'That is a mercy.'_

"For an animal like you Silvern, but humans…we want our brains, it is how we survived nature." 

_'Your adaptation; not by physical strength, but intelligence and the power to live in large packs, I know how you humans survive.'_I gave him a leery look. 

"You knew?" He said, looking surprised. 

_'This is why we feared you.'_ I said, _'And this is why, as I continually tell you, to stay away from the pack leaders, to stay away from the packs. Herne you know the story.'_

"I know, I know." He said in exasperation, "Mother told me, 'stay away from the other wolves, they will only bring harm in your way'." 

_ 'And this annoys you deeply?' _I concluded. 

"Why can't they understand?" 

_'They are wolves, they wouldn't understand, all they want to do is to live to see the sun rise anew.'_

"And you are not a wolf?" The human asked, "Silvern?" 

I was staring at a dense column of trees, right by the foot of the mountains. I saw something stir. I pricked my ears forward, strained to hear a sound. 

Just another mountain goat, I looked back at the human, _'What?'_

"Are you not a wolf Silvern?" 

_ 'I am.'_ I said slowly, _'But I feel as though I am different, I think more about what is going to happen next winter than where is my next meal going to come from.'_

"You are like me, then." Herne said. 

_'I'm not human.'_I said coldly. 

"No, but you're not like them either, you're not like the other wolves, if you were then why do you spend so much time with me? If you were like them then you would have been keeping your distance, but you're not, you don't." 

_'I'm not human.'_ I repeated. 

"No, you don't look like one." He muttered. "And you're not sentimental. You are not human, you walk on four legs, and you've got a tail, fur, sharp ears and a keen nose not human." 

_ 'I don't look like one?'_ I repeated his words, _'and you're saying that the humans off the valley are not human because even though they look human, they don't act human? Is that what I'm hearing?'_

"You're a fast learner, Silvern." 

_ 'Most wolves are, it is how we adapt for survival.' I paused, 'Then again, if you did think that we're not quick to adapt then look back on the reactions of my elders, when you humans hunted them most had avoided your species at any cost. And we don't make a habit of killing the humans either, that would just make the angry.'_

"Yet, Silvern, you are with me. Are you stupid?" 

_'At the time of my elders humans were a danger,'_ I replied, _'The humans are gone, and the strangers are here, I have a human beside me that is capable of not just understanding who these off valley strangers are, but is able to communicate with them and bring back his species from the dead.'_

"My species aren't dead, not yet anyway, they'll come back, I'll get them to come back." 

_ 'Yes, to come back home.'_

"You said wolves didn't like humans." 

_'We don't like them but we still appreciate them. Humans,' _I paused, _'they help wounded animals, they are capable of lending a helping hand to the weak, of all species on earth they are the only ones who are capable of forming a relationship with another animal, they are the only ones who are capable of stopping a forest fire, they are…different, unique, and a first lesson of caution to any half-witted animal. More than that, humans understand, they want to understand. It is not a thing of survival, not exactly, but it brings control in one's life…'_

"I didn't know you had this kind of view of humans." 

_ 'It's going to be hard to convince the rest of the world,'_I muttered. 

"Who?" 

_ 'The other animals, I thought you wanted my help? You need your species back right? Well I know this much; Earth wants her children back home as well.'_

"That's sweet." 

_ 'Sweet is a human concept, this, this is survival.'_

"Survival from the strangers." 

_ 'Restoring the order.'_ I said softly, _'I have heard terrible stories, they come from the children of the sea, the strangers are destroying areas…many animals are dead, and so is a lot of Earth life.'_

"And only humans can stop this." Herne shook his head. 

_ 'Humans had always caused destruction, but there had been humans at that time who work to restore the destruction of their kind. That is human, Herne, thinking ahead, undoing errors of others. A larger fuller understanding of the world, control over the environment and ultimately; appreciation. There are a limited number of animals that understand this.'_

"You are one." 

_'That is right.'_

"And the others…not all are wolves right?" 

_'No, none of them, not that I know of anyway.'_I said, _'I know of an animal that does understand, he is called Ashal; the great one of the ocean. But he calls herself another name.'_

"You've met him?" 

_ 'No…I don't know what he looks like even, but I know that the dolphins, the little ones of the sea are a relative of his species.'_

"And what is his species called?" 

_ 'Whales.'_

"And he understands?" 

_'Yes.'_

"He'll help us?" 

_'Yes.'_

"Can we go there?" He asked, "Now?" 

_ 'By the time I send word to him and by the time he arrives and as all this happens we may make our way towards the ocean, you can go on ahead, I have to ask a raven to call or him.'_

"Sure." He hopped away. 

I completed my errands and soon I stood on an outcrop of rocks, waiting, Herne stood beside me, he too waited. I would stand to pace from time to time, Herne was patient, any time I turn to look at him, I see him staring at the sea, transfixed. 

_'What are you doing?'_I asked, my patience snapping, _'Ashal should be here by now, what on Earth is the big one of the oceans doing?'_

"You are usually patient, Silvern, I've seen you hunt, what is wrong? Are you not at peace?" 

_ 'I'm not hunting,' _I snapped, _'he's wasting the time I could be using hunting for deer.'_

"Well, I'm at peace, say, the ocean, Silvern, how far does he stretch?" 

_ 'Far longer than our Earth, I tell you'_ I replied, I stopped pacing, _'It is a vast place, a dolphin once told me that they too have mountains, ocean mountains.'_

"Is it a beautiful place?" 

_'Yes, it has a lots and lots of food, a raven once told me that a shark told him that she is able to feed just by opening her mouth and gliding her long body on her open wings, floating in the sea. Can you imagine that? The raven told me its relevance is like feeding yourself by flapping in the sky with your beak open awaiting insects to find their way in. But for wolves, there is no food in air.'_

"No, I mean, is it beautiful? What kind of sky do they have? What are their grounds like? What colorful creatures roam their forest beds? How large are their trees? When does the sun set and rise? And does it display the beauty I see here? And what are their flowers at night? Their stars, do they see planet as well?" 

_'I do not understand what it is you are going on about, human.'_

"It's like…" Herne shook his head, "Never mind, forget it, you wouldn't understand the appreciation we humans may have for the ways a forest may look." 

PHMMMMMMMUR! 

I jerked back startled as a jet of water erupted for the ocean; a strong musky sent filled the breeze. 

"Silvern, look!" 

I did, it was hard not to, the creature that surfaced to meet us was hard to miss. 

_'So this is a whale.'_

I stared at the sub-island that rose from the ocean, gray flesh, two enormous fins, and a hump. 

YOU CALLED FOR ME?

The voice was huge, just as large as the ocean, and with his arrival I sensed him as if mentally; I could see…no feel the depth of his insight. 

The huge thing rolled on it's side and looked at Herne with a relatively small reddish brown eye. 

A MAN-CHILD? HOW IS THAT SO?

"I am what you might say, a real human." Herne spoke out, "I am the only human of what Achivil told me to be free. Whale…Ashal, I need your help, I am told that you understand ways not of the wild." 

YOU ARE… 

"I am not from the strangers' colonies, Ashal, I am different than them humans, I lived in this forest for all my life, my teacher, a great, old human named Achivil, taught me about the strangers of the stars and about their ways, and also about my people, the humans that fled to the heavens." 

Long silence. 

Ashal seemed to be thinking about this visibly, he dove down and resurfaced. 

CALL ME NOT ASHAL, HUMAN, AND NOR YOU WOLF, FOR I MAY LOOK LIKE A WHALE, BUT WHO I AM AND WHAT I REPRESENT IS NOT VISIBLE TO EITHER OF YOU.

"I do not understand. Asha- what shall I call you then, I mean." 

Call me Aftran, this is my true name. 

"Aftran? You are not a whale?" 

No, you said something about strangers, about the…invaders from the stars, those that have come and with their coming, humans fled to the stars. 

"Yes, Achivil called them Yeerks. He said they are dangerous, that they are the enemy." 

I am one of them, human, I am the enemy. But not an enemy at all. 

"You are a Yeerk?" 

Yes. I am a Yeerk. 

I barked out a laugh, looking at the Yeerk's mass I said, _'All this can fit into a human's head? Tell me, Herne, just how large are your species' brains anyway?'_

The significance of his discovery, had, however, stopped him from remarking at my comment.


	9. The promise

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year. THE PROMISE

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 23:05_

_DATE: 01/06/2020_

_LOCATION: MATERNITY WARD_

** MAJOR GENERAL ASI**__

A cold breeze ruffled my hair as the door slid back automatically, I walked past a couple of closed doors and stopped myself in front of one of them. I opened the door manually and entered. The door slid shut behind me.

It was quite, so dreadfully quite. The room was white, the bed was white, I watched the blank monitors. 

Looked at the human that was laid on the bed, her face was expressionless but peaceful. Her once swollen abdomen was no longer swollen. 

I looked at Mai's silent form. She had always been so weak and emotional it had cost her, her life. 

Mai was nothing like me; she resented fighting, repulsed by the very image of blood and fears the smell of death. Mai was no coward but was weak in a feminine way I supposed. 

After Mai's marriage I stopped seeing her, it wasn't anything personal, I just got busy, she was busy too. I remembered the last conversation I had with her. We were arguing, we always were. 

But even when she was arguing she managed to do it without snapping or expressing anger. I, on the other hand found it easy to yell shout and accuse. 

Loud mouthed Asi and soft sweet Mai. I was the younger, my mother is dead now, so is my father. I may have been a loud-mouthed rude girl, boisterous at times but I was never a fool. Mai was a fool. 

She could be easily tricked, easy to deceive, my elder sister, she thinks that there couldn't be any possible evil coming from another human, Mai had always hung onto an imaginary image of us humans, an image that was far from the truth. 

I walked round the bed, thinking about what Mai had told me on our last argument. 

_'You'll never change Asi, you'll stay the way you are, you'll never settle down.'_ I could see her motionless face light up with life in my memory. The relaxed look changing into concern, I could hear her neutral tone.

_'And who told you I had plans for settling down?!' _ In my mind's eye I pictured myself, hands on hips, glaring.

_'You never did, but you know what? When you retire and look back at what you've accomplished throughout your life, you're going to find something missing. You haven't got any friends; your entire life is fight, fight, fight. One day you're going to wake up and wonder.__'_

_'You'll wonder what happened in the years between, you'll wonder if it was all worth it, you'll wonder if you could have ended it differently.'_ She was shaking her head at me, her eyes full of remorse. 

_'Mai wake up! We're in war! We need people to win this war, and sacrifices have to be made!'_ I had leapt forward and shook her hard by the shoulders. 

_'Let them do it, let the men sacrifice. You don't have to do anything.'_ Her eyes were desperate she looked at me pityingly. I remembered the wave of intense anger that had flared inside me. 

_'That's exactly what they want us to do!If we lay down on our backsides you know what will happen? We'll lose. We need people to feed this war.' _

_'Feed this war Asi? Is this what you want to do?' _More pity. 

Until now I still didn't know if this was what I had wanted to do but I never told her that, I stood silent. Stared. 

_'You live your life to please other people, you're always doing things to please others, it's the same for what you used to do when father was around, the same with Ben and the same thing with the military, don't Asi, live your life for yourself not for others, they're not worth it, not worth the trouble.'_

She's wrong. What did she know about it?

"Rest in peace Mai." I whispered.

There was no answer of course, but the silence was no longer so heavy, it was light, I was glad I had come to see her for the last time.

"I'll take care of Lynn and your Annabelle, sister. I will look after Jordan too." I said softly, "I may have never had plans for settling down Mai, but your daughter may be the step towards it, and who knows, when this war is over, when they no longer need me, I will devote my time for Annabelle." 

I knelt down, one knee to the ground and placed my hand in hers, I closed my eyes. "Good bye Mai. I will never forget you, even though our relationship seemed vain," I paused, opened my eyes, "but I have learnt much from you elder sister. I may have been stubborn, but you were patient with me, patient with Lynn, patient with mother. You will not be forgotten." 

I closed my eyes. 

I didn't hear the doors slide open. "You believe she could hear you?" 

I opened my eyes and glanced behind me, it was Mac, "Yes, I do, it was what my mother and what Mai taught me." 

"I'm sorry." He said. 

I stood up, "It is in my people's belief that once you die, it is only your body that does, your soul is intact until burial, then you rise to the heavens. Don't be sorry. Mai had not left me completely. She is still alive." 

"In your head?" 

"My heart," I said, looking down at her for the last time. I walked out of the room slowly. Once I was outside with Mac I said, "what happened? I didn't think you _Sasi_ had enough energy to crawl out of the holes you dig yourselves into." 

He laughed, "We come out once ever while." 

"So, had something happened?" I inquired. 

"No," He paused then said, "I came here for you." 

"That's a change." I muttered. 

He put his arm round my shoulders and started to walk with me to another part of the maternity wing. 

"I have a few things to discus with you." He said looking straight ahead, "One is concerning Lynn. But that will wait, did you see your niece yet?" 

"No." I said, "I believe you are taking me there?" 

He sighed, "Have you given her a name?" 

"Mai calls her Annabelle, it isn't a bad name." 

"No. It isn't." 

"We will have her under military care, we can organize a place for both of Lynn and Annabelle, Jordan wouldn't be a problem, but I was concerned with the little one." 

"Annabelle would be staying here until she is strong enough to leave, you know that the hospital doesn't release premature babies." 

"So she'll be staying a few months then we'll convert her to MC." 

MC, military care, a military run foster home. Mostly this is where the children of a deceased soldier go, if they had no relatives. 

I was silent for a while, "I was thinking about taking her in." 

"You know the law Asi. I really don't want to quote anything." 

I knew I was pushing my luck, I couldn't take care of Annabelle because of military regulations against soldiers who are parents, they couldn't foster or take custody of a child because they are always on call for, and the child will not have all the attention that is needed. "I could go to court and try out my luck." 

He sighed, "I'll see if I could pull a few strings, but I'm not promising anything." 

"Anything but MC, that's all I'm saying. I'd rather place her under care of a friend." 

"You know someone?" 

I bit my lip, "No." 

"There we are." He said, he pushed his way in and we entered. 

Quite suddenly I found her. 

No that wasn't true, she found me, she had her eyes on me first, that was how I found her. I stepped away from Mac and walked towards her. 

Alien, that how you could describe a newborn, they barely resemble a human adult. They are so small and frail. The five fingered hands with miniature fingers, the oddly huge eyes and the swollen abdomen. 

I have seen a lot of animals, and those that pay attention to you and make eye contact either have a frightened distracted look or calm hungry eyes. 

This was different; the eyes looked at you and they _saw_ you. There was no fear, no hunger, just…intelligence? 

I watched her dark eyes and thought, _have your mother ever held you in her arms?_

Probably not. 

I stood near the incubator, leaned down and reached for her tiny hand; it took her whole fist to cover the tip of my thumb. 

But her grip is strong, there was life. I gently touched her head, the hair was soft, it wouldn't last long, new hair would grow. I pried off her hand with another finger.I straightened my pose. 

"Small, isn't she?" He asked. 

"Yes." My eyes were almost mesmerized by the little body. Her movements were jerky, her head jerked to the other side as I walked round the incubator she followed me with her eyes. "Quite alive." 

"Does she look like her mother or her father?" 

"Too early to tell." 

"Okay, what about her eyes? Aren't they you're sister's brown?" 

I glanced at him, "They could also be my mother's dark eyes, don't romanticize this." 

He shrugged, "But she may have her father's eyes." 

"She's nothing like Lynn," I said, "Lynn's much like his father, light brown hair, green eyes, he even got his father's nose and lips, his frame even." 

"She's nothing like Lynn." 

"No, for one, she's going to be much like her mother. Her hair is dark, that is not a characteristic of her husband's family." 

"I think she's got Mia's eyes." He said leaning down to have a better look. "Hey there little kid, you'll be seeing a lot of me when you grow up." 

"Uhuh." I said, "Why couldn't they be her father's? Her gaze would probably haunt Lynnfor the rest of his life. I'll be glade for that. Even if she didn't have her fathers eyes, her mothers eyes would be just as haunting." I shook my head. 

"Ah, yes. You reminded me." He said. 

"You said you had something about Lynn." 

"Yes I did. This may come to you as a surprise but Lynn wasn't lucid when he killed his father." 

"You bought his story?" 

"I have scientific evidence for it." He said slowly, "It isn't that he's autistic, I'm afraid its much more serious than that." 

"Yes, it is? How so?" 

He hesitated, "The doctor I assigned ordered a CT scan." 

"And?" 

"I'm afraid there's something wrong with Lynn, the doctors who were previously observing him took it as something else." 

I looked up at him he was serious? "What did the CT scan show?" 

"He has a brain tumor." 

"_What?_" I turned to face him. 

"I know it's a surprise." He paused again. 

"Is it still operable?" 

"No, it may have been some time ago." 

"How much does he have left?" I asked, I looked down again at Annabelle. 

"A year. Maybe two." 

"Oh, god." I said, looking at Mac, "So it wasn't his fault entirely." 

"He doesn't know yet." 

"And you want me to break the news?" I laughed, "You know he doesn't like me, and besides, I've never been good with kids." 

"Actually I had something else in mind." 

That made me stare. 

"The _Sasi_ still need him for…for what we disused." 

I sighed, "He doesn't know. He will not know and he will do it, that's what you want to hear. Do I really have a choice in this?" 

"I'll see that you have Annabelle were you please major general, but for now, good luck." 

"Good luck?" I echoed. 

"Come on major general. I'm afraid all this family business is diverting your attention. We have business to take care of, I need you to talk to Prince Noroa, they still are wondering why their communications are jammed." 

"You're using me?" 

"It's all part of the plot, Asi, it'll be an irony I'll tell you this much." 

"What? You're going to make a living fool of me?" 

"You'll do for the job and well, you would be no fool, brutal yes, cold? Yes, besides you already have a reputation for hating Andalites, what's the harm in taking it a step further. Do not worry major general." 

"But I do." I muttered, "I do." 


	10. The force

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year. THE FORCE

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 14:11_

_DATE: 04/06/2020_

_LOCATION: PRESERVE SECTOR A-214_

** LYNN**

"I suppose it's weird." I said. "There are a lot of things going on at the same time."

"What do you mean?" Jordan asked.

I looked up at her and nodded at the animorphs, they were playing around near a nearby waterhole. I suppose they have a lot of talking to do, now that they were out of danger. A _sem-i_ was with them, Shrag I think, he was answering questions Cassie had for him. I've been told that she has an eye out for wildlife. She was asking him about the preserves.

"Well, mom passed away I've got a new sister and you found yours as well as a cousin…"

"That." She said quietly. She seemed distracted.

"It must be strange," I said.

"What is?"

"Your older sister being younger than you." I said with a smile, "You wake up in the morning and they tell you; guess what? You have a younger sister."

"But she used to be older than me."

"Not much older, now she's younger than you, but not by much. What changed?"

She shrugged, "It's like she's back from the dead."

"You talked to her?"

"Yes I did."

"It's not that bad." I said, "At least she's alive, you thought you lost her."

"It was hard explaining Sarah and mom and dad. They're dead for sure."

"You thought Rachel was dead for sure."

She shrugged again, "I don't know Lynn…" She looked into my face curiously, "You seem to get better every day."

"I'm past my confusion." I said quietly.

What a joke, past my confusion, I was much more confused than ever, now instead of listing to the voices in my head I've got a bunch of _Sasi's_ dictating every move I should make, my life had gone rapidly down hill.

"I'm glad to hear that." She said.

"Is she anything like you?" I asked.

"Who Rachel? No." She said, she smiled and leaned against a tree, she watched her with distanced eyes. "She's been reckless, brave, nowhere near responsible. But determined. Like our cousin."

"Like you even."

"It runs in our family." She said.

"Something tells me this isn't what's keeping you busy."

She looked at me and I saw a beginning of a smile tug at her lips, but it left just as fast as it came.

"Well?" I asked, swatting away a few flies.

"Well back when I didn't know a thing about the war and Rachel was still the eldest, she used to come back home in a bad mood, her tongue sharp and her tolerance…well there was no tolerance, anyway, that's not it, at times Marco would drop by and…"

"And?" I pushed.

"Well." She said blushing, "At that time I thought he was cute and…oh, I don't know."

"You like him?" I suggested.

"But I'm older than him."

"So what?" I said, "You know that changed. My mom told me that back on Earth that kind of thing mattered slightly."

"And he's so short."

"That really matters? Where's your sense of judgment? I thought it was character that mattered to you girls."

She shrugged helplessly, flicked an ant that had been climbing her uniform.

"Come on." I said as the _Sem-i_ walked off, "I want to get to know them better."

"Sure."

We stood up and walked towards them, Jake turned at our approach, and the rest turned their attention as well.

"Rachel, Jake, all of you." Jordan said, "This is Lynn, I've told you about him."

"Pleasure to meet you." Cassie said.

"No, the pleasure's all mine." Cassie blushed slightly.

"Look, guys, I have to go." Jordan said. Glancing around her.

"What? You're on call?" There was a light in Rachel's eye. "Take us with you."

"Sorry, I can't do that." She said, "Besides you need to take it easy for a while."

"We've been taking it easy fro twenty years, what are you talking about?" Rachel demanded.

Jordan just shook her head and walked away. Rachel kicked at the grass. "It's not fair."

I laughed, "You want to fight them?"

"Sure I do, don't you?"

"Sorry, by that I meant join the M.A.S.S."

"The who?" The rest of them came to hear this. Jake and Cassie sat on a dead tree log, Marco sat on the ground opposite to me. Tobias perched beside Cassie and Rachel too joined them on the log. The Andaite trotted towards us.

"The human military. Don't you know anything?" I laughed again, "Oh, wait you are serious, you don't know anything do you?"

Marco shook his head, "Can you please explain?"

"Sure, M.A.S.S, they stand for the four basic divisions in the human military."I said, "_M_, is for _Masi_ they are the male human warrior. _A_, is for _Asi_ they're the female human warriors. _S_, is for _Sem-i_ they are cadets. And the other _S_ is _Sasi_. They run the war council. They _are_ the war council." 

"Asi!" Rachel said, "It was that woman who talked to me." 

The others looked at her, "You've had someone to talk to you? How come? We were just taken right here." Marco said, "Right?" he asked looking at the others. 

They all nodded but the Andalite said, That was not my case, I was questioned. 

"You were what?" 

"You don't say." I said wiry. 

"What do you mean?" Marco asked me. 

"Let me guess. That women you saw," I said nodding at Rachel, "couldn't possibly be the same one that talked to your friend here, could she?" 

She identified herself as major general Asi. 

"Same here." 

I rolled my eyes, "She's my aunt." 

Marco raised an eyebrow, "She is?" 

"Yup, she isn't a nice person to have around, believe me I know." I rolled my eyes gain, still acting up to my script as the indifferent stupid jerk, "Major general Asi, she's who got the government to open a division for female warriors." 

You allow your females to fight? 

"Yeah, what's wrong with that? We're short in numbers and casualties are frequent. Besides, it isn't like they fight _for_ us, they fight besides us." I said defensively. 

"What did they ask you?" Jake asked Ax. 

They were unusual questions, they asked me about you mostly and how the rest of you treated me, they also asked me about our incident with Estrid. 

"Why would they want to do that?" Marco wondered. He leaned back on the ground and stared at the stars. He rolled a small twig between his teeth.

I acted as if I was screwing my brains for an answer then I gasped to get their attention. "I think I know why!" 

Why? Tobias asked. 

"Well, our government and his," I nodded at Ax, "where never at good terms, basically, everyone thinks that sometime after we win this war with the Yeerks, the human government and the Andalite government are going to be at war." 

"What?" Rachel asked, "Why?" 

"I'm not quite sure why, but I know that half of it was to settle score for what happened on earth. The rest is because…well, the humans want to knock the arrogant urge of the Andalites, show them they're not the lords of the universe. It pisses us off, from what I've heard, the Andalites brag even in defeat." 

"That sounds like the Andalites we all love and know." Marco commented, leering slightly at Ax. 

"So, what do we do about all this?" Rachel wondered. 

"We don't do anything." I replied, "Leave them to sort it out by themselves." 

"Wait." Cassie spoke up, she had been silent all along, "you're saying a war, killing more people over what? Is it worth it?" 

"We have no say in this." I said, "The _Sasi_ have their minds made up unofficially." 

"Hey. Wait, we had a good reason to fight the Yeerks, they're parasites who destroy entire civilizations, habitats and planets, but," Cassie said, "we're going to fight Andalites how stupid is that? Can't you just settle things down by talking?" 

I was quite, "It never occurred to me that way, I had a feeling they had done something disastrous…but I don't know." 

"See?" Cassie said triumphantly, "It's easy when you sit and think about it." 

I have a feeling 'our' government isn't going to think about it this way. Tobias muttered. Shifting slightly. 

"Yeah," I agreed, "They're not. Look, er, what happened with that Estrid Andalite?" 

"Oh, her? Long story." Marco said. 

"No, come on tell me." I said, "That is, unless you have something else to do." 

"We don't." Cassie said. But she didn't continue. 

"Look, its like this." Marco said, "We've been waiting for back up ever since we started fighting this war, and in the middle of this battle, a group of four Andalites were fighting with us, we decide to check'em out, we assumed that, at first the main fleet arrived, but they were in fact, just some fresh hell." He paused, "They said that their mission is to assassinate visser three but this wasn't what they were after." 

They planned to unleash a virus that will kill the Yeerks only it could prove fatal to humans as well, but that was unacceptable we stopped them. 

"I see." I said slowly, "They told you to say that? Confirm it or something?" 

They asked me whether or not their mission was to assassinate he Visser. I told them the truth. Ax said. 

I shook my head, "I'm not getting this, if they knew that was their real mission why ask him to confirm it, doesn't make sense." 

Maybe they didn't know. Tobias said. 

I shook my head, "If they knew their supposed mission they'd have known the truth as well," then I added solemnly,"little is overlooked by them." 

I managed to stop myself flinching; I realized that the words that came out of my mouth, I've heard them before, from Asi.

_'Very little that happens, Lynn, is overlooked.'_ I felt myself shiver. I could see her self-composed looks, the hardcore eyes. Did the military have a lot to keep from the public? Or even the government? I wasn't sure, but I wondered, why would a military take someone like me for the job, they could have easily taken someone else. Unless…unless I was an expendable piece, a worthless adversary. 

Was I an adversary? I didn't know, but could I find out? I glanced at the force in front of me, six in all, seven with me, if they were capable of being potential enemies of the Yeerks could they help my uncover the secrets? 

No, then they'd have to know my secret as well, was this what Asi and that Sasi person, Mac were bargaining for? That I wouldn't allow anyone find out the truth? 

I felt all alone suddenly, isolated, away from help. I couldn't turn to any friends for help but them…the animorphs? They…they looked out for each other. 

Could I reach for them? 

Will they help me? 

I wasn't sure. Not the least bit. 

"Well." Jake said, "They could hold it against the government. You know, prove that it really did happen." 

I nodded, "By recording it, that way they couldn't deny." 

"Yeah, right." Marco said, "They still could deny. You know that. How easy is it to say; you're setting this up." 

"No." I said, "It isn't easy." 

They all looked at me. 

"Look, " I said, "What did they tell you when you woke up?" 

"That they found us in a fighter." Marco said, "Look where are you heading with this?" 

I felt the color drain from my face, Mac told me we kept them under deep freeze, and he didn't mention a fighter. 

I stared at them, what was really going on here? And why, why had they kept them under deep freeze? 

I cast a look around the preserve, was anyone near us? No. Could I tell them? Could I really trust them? 

I sat down at the ground, "I have something to tell you." 

"Yeah what?" Marco said. 

I bit my lip and looked at the distance, if they caught me I was going to get maximum charges, I knew that, but I felt desperately lonely and confused, "First you have to promise me you wouldn't tell anyone, anyone about this, I need to know if you're as true as your word." 

They sensed the seriousness of my voice, I wouldn't be surprised if they saw me as a different person, I was abandoning the script, for good. 

"What's wrong?" Cassie asked me. 

I looked at the ground then up at them, I looked at their leader Jake, "I need your help to find something, the Sasi, I have a feeling that they're keeping a lot of secrets." 

They stared at me, they didn't know what to say. 

"This entire thing is suspicious, look the only reason I'm here is to spy on you." I said, "That's what they told me to do, gain your trust, see what you'll be up to." 

Cassie smiled slightly, "Well, you'll have our trust, at least you're warning us." 

I looked at them desperately, how could I explain? I realized that this was not the first time I reached this situation, "They told you that they found you deep-frozen in a fighter, right? That's all BS." I paused, "The Sasi had you on deep freeze." 

"What?" Marco said, "Why would they lie?" 

"That's not all, I've…I've heard something, I overheard it…well they acted like I was invisible!" I half raged, my memory was back in that office, back with Mac and Asi. 

"What's all this about?" Rachel said, "Why would they use you anyway?" 

I smiled, it was a thin cold smile, "Because I'm expendable." 

"How's that?" 

"Wouldn't you like to know." I said, I paused, looked around and for a moment or two considered telling them everything I knew. Right back to…to, you know, the reason I've got myself into the situation. 

Mac's bargaining chip. 

You are lost, I thought to myself, if telling them doesn't work you are seriously lost, if it does, then Mac loses. 

Let's hope Mac loses. 

Yeah, hope. The problem is, I didn't believe in hope, my situation is hopeless, if I told them everything chances are they'd be suspicious of me, they wouldn't trust me. 

If I didn't tell them I'm going to stay the way I am, afraid of everybody, dreading what would happen if what I did leaked into the public. Wouldn't be able to trust anyone. 

They'd think I'm nuts, listening to voices in my head, the severe headaches, my previous past of autism, later faking autism to cover up the murder. 

I killed my father. 

I fell sorry for him, and for me, bitterly, but if I was capable of killing; planning and caring out, purposely, the cold-blooded murder of my own father. Who else was I going to kill? 

Again, I felt confused, lost. 

Tell them? 

No, they'd know everything. 

Don't tell them. 

You'd stay the way you are, locked in your own fear and would fall to obey the voices again. 

The voices. What did they think? 

But they weren't there; I'm going nuts, I thought, I placed a hand on the side of my head, looked at the animorphs in what I hoped were calm eyes. 

I wanted to rip my brain out. 

I wanted the confusion to end. 

I also wanted my headache to pass. 

Do I tell them my past? 

No.

Trust only yourself. Tell them only about the goverment.


	11. The hunt

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year. THE HUNT

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 16:45_

_DATE: 04/06/2020_

_LOCATION: CLASSIFIED_

** MAJOR GENERAL ASI**

I walked up to the computer console; I played the pad and watched the data reel with unemotional eyes.

_"Do we have enough?"_ I heard Mac's voice in my earpiece. 

"Just a second." I said. "There I got it, and no, we don't." 

"How much do we need?"

"At least fifty more Andalites." 

_"That will not be a problem, major general, we will have you hunting for them."_

"When do I leave?" I asked. 

"Be at docking bay 71 in ten minutes."

"Lock the entrances." I snapped at an attendant, "I'm finished here." 

"Yes, sir." 

At a fast but steady pace, I walked to the drop shafts; I reached my required destination in exactly seven minutes, making me three minutes earlier. Good, early is good, late isn't so good. And I wanted time to prepare. 

What would be at docking bay 71? I thought to myself as the doors slid open, it wasn't what I had expected. 

I was greeted with the sight of three _Masi_, they were fighter pilots, anyone could tell the difference between fighter pilots and ordinary foot soldiers or officers, fighter pilots seem to have a certain swagger and there was this look in their eyes. They were definitely fighter pilots. 

But that wasn't what really caught my attention; at first, it actually took me a while to notice that there were actual fighters in the docking bay 71. 

They were…unusual. 

No more than two meters high, the metallic black fighters hovered an inch off the polished floor, the cockpit was diamond shaped and two sleek wings swept back with a sharp pointed curve. Along the length of the curved sharp edged wings were serrations, like those on a hunting knife. 

Theses fighters had a tail; short, much like the tail feathers of a bird of prey, the cockpit had a windshield, made with what looked like dark black reflective glass. 

You couldn't see where the engines were, and as I peaked into one of the open fighter I realized you couldn't stand up in this thing, there was an actual seat, with all the controls within arm's reach. 

I stared at the fighter for some time, they reminded me of the fighters we used to have on Earth, but this thing was…it was different. 

"They are called S-Dows." One of the men said, grinning like a kid who discovered a new toy, "Never seen one major?" 

"I've heard…but no, I've never seen one." 

"You think you can rein this baby?" Another one of the Masi said, he was doing something with the interior of one of the fighters; he tossed an oily rag at the ground, grabbed what looked like a wrench and started screwing something in. 

I walked down the side of one of the S-Dows; my hand touched the surface gingerly. I looked at my fingertips. Then looked at the _Masi_ who had spoken out, "I can manage. " 

"I don't think you generals, and majors and officers do a lot of piloting do you? Nope, you'd have someone do that for you." He said, he seemed to be leering slightly, but what he said, he said it in an offhand way, he wasn't implying anything. 

"If I were in my own fighter, I'd be at the helm." I replied casually. 

"You've got a fighter? What type?" 

"Styroid 25." 

He whistled. "You wouldn't mind after all this is over with, me taking it for a cruise?" 

"Ignore him." Said a voice behind and to the left of me, "Rex here is always looking for an opportunity to get his dirty hands on something nice and polished." 

I turned, one of the _Masi_ was leaning against a wall of docking bay 71, his arms folded across his chest, his head bent and a tangle of wild black hair concealed his eyes. I saw the corners of his lips curl upwards in a smile. 

"That's ironic coming from you." Rex muttered. 

I looked back at the _Masi_ called Rex, and then to this other one. "Oh really?" 

"Yeah." He drawled. "That right Rexy?" 

Rex shook his head and went back to his work. 

The _Masi_ with the wild hair pushed himself off the wall, he walked towards me and stuck his hand out, "They call me Tetrass." 

"Major general Asi." I heard myself saying, I was staring at his vivid emerald green eyes. 

"That there is Rexroth, we call him Rex." Tetrass said nodding, "And him, he's Narl." 

Narl, which had been staring blankly into space, focused his gray hypnotic eyes at me, threw me an expressionless, blank look and went back to staring at...at whatever it was he was staring at. 

"This isn't all of us," Tetrass said, "I'm the captain of this little team, we've got one more pilot, his name is Chase." 

"Chase?" I repeated. 

"Uhuh. I don't think you'll like him. He isn't really military regulation." He laughed wiry. 

I didn't know what was more bizarre, the fact that he was laughing about another comrade, which he sees as unfit, or the fact that captain Tetrass didn't look like military issue himself. 

For one thing his hair was worn longer than what was allowed for _Masi_, I mean, it wasn't shoulder length, no one, not even the _Asi_ could have their hair that long, but it came down to cover three quarters of his ears, that wasn't really allowed for the men, us yes, but not them.

And besides, nothing about him was…serious. All the captains I've seen –and I'm comparing him to Darrell- are stiff, uptight and well, Tetrass seemed to have a permanent boyish grin stuck on his face. 

It ticked me off, I didn't know why. 

That's when Chase came in, and I had to struggle to keep my temper checked. 

"Hello all…and oh wait, who have we got here." The _Masi_ walked closer to me and flicked at my hair, "We've got a pussy with us guys." 

Rex laughed and Tetrass grinned slyly. Narl was still staring off into space. 

I grabbed his retreating arm. With that he said, "Whoa. Hold your horses lad-" 

I interrupted him, speaking in a cold, harsh voice, "Do you know who I am?" 

"No pussy, haven't got a clue, who are you anyway? Maintenance?" 

"Major general Asi." I snapped, "I'm here to supervise this little trip." I shoved his arm away. 

Chase grinned, scratched his head and said, "Eh?" 

I glared at him. 

He shook his head and ran a hand through his slightly long spiked blond hair. 

"Ausi." He smiled, "Great name." 

"Asi." I snapped, "It's Asi." 

"I heard." He looked at me in disdain. "She got a call sign everyone, welcome Ausi to the team!" 

I opened my mouth to object but my words were swallowed by Rex's clapping and hooting and Tetrass' cheering. 

Narl looked at us as if we were aliens. Crossed his arms and said, "I'm confused, who are we supposed to listen to? Captain or major?" 

Tetrass said, "Sit down before you hurt yourself." 

"And?" He asked, shrugging his massive shoulders, his voice was deep, like he was talking from the pit of his stomach, "By this you mean…?" 

"I am of course, she's here to supervise, I'm the one who bosses you around. Yet again." He flashed another grin. 

"When do we leave?" Rex asked suddenly. 

"Tomorrow." I replied. 

"See you then, major." Chase brought up a hand to his head and pulled it up into the air, mocking a salute. 

Tetrass threw a rag at him, I left before I got dragged into the starting argument. 

I barged into the nearest office I could find, there were two officers in there, "Get out." 

They did, they knew who I was. 

It took me a minute to locate and call him. 

"Well hello there-" 

"What were you thinking?" My voice was less than steady. 

Mac gave me his I'm-annoyed-so-don't-you-annoy-me-too look, "Thinking about what?" 

"Docking bay 71. Be there in ten minutes." I repeated shrilly. "You want to know how many times you put me in situations like these? I can count I tell you-" 

"Asi." He snapped, "Look, their attitude is less than flattering, I understand-" 

"Ah, so you knew." I said in a loud sarcastic voice. 

"Asi, they're the best of the best." He commented plainly. 

"They're not very high on obeying military regulations." 

"Which ones?" 

"A lot more than you can on your fingers, Mac, the way the things are going." 

"It a first impression." 

"A bad one at that." 

"They'll get better when you get to know them, you'll get used to them." 

"Get better? Get better?! What are you nuts?" I could hardly restrain from yelled, "I didn't come all the way here to get…to get that kind of utterly foolish, _and_ childish behavi-" 

"Look, you have to get them to respect you, show them the lines, tell them what you're thinking." He paused and added, "They're not used to working with an _Asi_ let alone the Asi." 

"Oh that's very well, let the under-ranked lay the rules. Well, I've got news for you," I snapped. "I'm not having this." 

"Very well Asi, I knew you were always a great disciplinary officer." He smiled blandly, "Good luck on your mission." 

I terminated the channel. 

I stopped in front of the doors, ready to get out. I caught my reflection, halted then angrily stepped out of the office, "I'm done." I said to the officers. 

They went back to their duties. 

I headed to docking bay 71 for the second time, this time I knew what I would be expecting. 

The unexpected. 

That's for sure, with a team like this, everything, everything could go wrong. I hoped I was wrong, I really did. The double doors slid open and I caught a flash of- 

BONK! 

"Offf!" I gasped. I hit the ground hard. Whoever slammed into me didn't. 

"Eh, sorry Ausi." Chase held out a hand. 

I scrambled up, leaving his hand in the air he pulled it back. 

He seemed to be studying my face intently. I bit back a response; it's what he wanted me to do. I wouldn't do it. 

He was actually pretty focused, his blue eye seemed to be staring at my cheek, his hand reached out for my face, he bit his lip, "I think you got a bruise…" 

I jerked my head out of his reach and felt my screaming cheekbone yeah it felt like it. "Nothing is wrong with me." I said briskly. 

"No, I tell you it's going purple." He attempted to reach out again. 

"Oi!" A voice said, "What are you doing?" 

Chase turned, "Oi? _Oi?_" 

"Yeah, I heard a British guy say that, it's better than yo, when you think about it; Yo is for '_Yo! Look at me man!_ _Yah! Whasus my brother'_, Oi is more like, '_Hey you! OI!_What do you think you're doing?" 

"Really?" Chase said, "I've heard an Asian guy yell Aiwe, that's even cooler, _'Aiwe, you, look at me_' He said it's like yelling 'hey!' Only a lot ruder. I think he was Asian." 

"Back to what I said," Tetrass said, still grinning stupidly, "What were you two doing?" 

"Me?" He gave Tetrass a worried, concern looked, then in a thick Scottish accent he said, "I'dn't know my-lad, I think we got'r'us a stifl' 'ere, Gotta haul'er back up the shop, I need ta loosen a few screws off beauty. What do ya thinking Cap'tin?" 

Tetrass frowned, he looked at me, "When he was born a translator popped up with him, I can't seem to find it now a days, er, can you help me translate?" He whacked Chase on the back of the head, then mimicking Chase's Scottish accent, "That ought'ta fix 'em." 

They were impossible, that's what I realized. And I wondered, I really wondered why no one could tighten _their_ screws. 

It's going to be a long hunt. I thought wearily, and if I want it to pass quickly I'd have to…adjust.

So I did something I normally didn't do, I laughed. 

Chase stared at me, "Boy do I need to catch up to this world, you girls change the second I lay an eye on you." 

"Maybe it's just you." Tetrass said leering. 

"No, maybe its me." I muttered underneath my breath and shoved past the two to get to know the last of the group, I had a feeling Narl was different, and Rex too, he was different. Chase and Tetrass? They were just boys, having a 'blast'.


	12. The find

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year. THE FIND

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 17:15_

_DATE: 04/06/2020_

_LOCATION: ASI'S OFFICE_

** MARCO**

"So where are we?" I asked. 

Lynn said, "In Asi's office, she's got a computer there, I'm going to try to hack in." 

"You're a hacker?" I said. 

"Yeah, something no one knows about, I think I've got enough skill to pull in level five, classified information, but I don't know if I could get in any deeper." 

Lynn stopped in front of the interface and started to mutter something to himself, I didn't understand any of it, I glanced at Ax. He shook his head. 

I casually looked at Jake, he just shrugged. 

What are you saying? Ax asked bluntly. 

Leave it for him to say something like that. 

Lynn looked up surprised that we asked, "Oh, that? Just a habit I have, I keep saying that before I hack into a system and by luck, I don't get caught." 

You believe it will bring you luck? Ax wondered. 

"Nah," He said playing the interface "But it's better than waiting for…okay, okay, what's this?" 

I watched as counters rolled off the screen and numbers whizzed past. 

"I'm in, what do we search for?" Lynn asked. 

"I don't know, what do you think?" Jake said. 

"Okay…how about…" He thought, "What was his name?" 

"Whose name?" 

"He said his name, the _Sasi_ guy. The Andalite's name, Prince Noroa. Yeah, that was it." 

He typed that in. 

"CLASSIFIED LEVEL ONE DATA, ENTER CODE." 

Lynn groaned, "Okay, I need help, this will be easier if I had two working on it." 

Ax stepped forward. 

The rest of us waited and waited and waited. 

They didn't crack the code. 

And we were still waiting. 

Eight hours past. Cassie and Rachel had long retired to sleep and I was nodding off due to boredom. 

I looked at Jake. 

He yawned. 

I looked at Tobias, his head was stuck under his wing somewhere. 

"Okay, we got it!" Lynn exclaimed. "And the password is…" his mouth dropped open, "Okaaay," He said, "I knew the _Sasi_ had a lousy sense of humor but this is ridiculous." 

Your human humor is highly over rated. Ax muttered. 

"No kidding." Lynn replied. "Guys, check this out." Tobias swooped in closer. "The password, the code we've spent just over eight hours-" 

Nine of your hours. Ax said. 

"Don't start that." Rachel warned waking Cassie up, "Marco wouldn't let you hear the end of it." 

I glanced at Ax, then at Rachel. 

"Technically, he's right, time around here is in standard HMS, human mother ship, it's actually no different from Earth." 

I turned round and stared at Lynn, "You want to get on my nerves too?" 

He stared back at me, not knowing what to make of what I said. 

"It's okay Lynn." Rachel said sweetly, looking at me, "He's touchy about the time. But this isn't his worst, you just see him-" 

"People?" Jake said, "Please?" 

I smirked, "The two P's, Jake's favorite, if he wants to shut us up that's what he says, people, please." 

"He aims that to us, for you he'd probably say; Shut-up Stupid, the two S's our favorite." Rachel battered her eyelashes at me. 

"I just love t when she does that." I muttered. 

"Okay nine." Lynn said, "The code is; No password." 

I laughed. "No comments from me, just; hehehehe." 

"Guys here it is…I found a file…" Lynn trailed off, he stared, his eyes scanned the screen, he was reading the words. 

I didn't understand the language. 

Can you read this? Ax demanded. 

"Yes." Lynn muttered, "Yes.." he sounded shocked. 

What does it say? Tobias said. 

"They've got twenty Andalites on the mother-ship." Lynn looked puzzled. 

"So?" Rachel said. 

"So…they're no allowed on our mother-ship, the _Sasi_ say that there are no Andalites aboard the _She-Eagle_." 

"The what?" I asked. 

"That's what they call the human mother ship." Lynn said sounding distracted."The military people." 

But you are mistaken, Ax said, Even if we hadn't hacked into the file there will have still been one Andalite onboard, me. 

"Yeah, but you're different." Lynn muttered, "Look, it says that they're keeping them for experimentation, that doesn't sound like they've been invited over." 

"No." I agreed, "Read on." 

"They…they're researching a…" He stopped talking. He stared at the screen in disbelief. "No." 

"What?" 

"That's what they meant," Lynn whispered, "If I weren't so busy thinking about how much trouble I was in I would have took notice…" 

"What?" Jake demanded, "What is it." 

"You were in trouble?" I demanded. 

"Germ warfare, they're mass producing a virus that could kill Andalites, they're in the first stages, it's probably a year or two before they could mass produce, according to the document." 

Ax stiffened. 

"Payback?" I asked, "Is this what they were after when they questioned Ax? So that they could justify the release of, or at least the manufacture of this virus?" 

"That's sick." Cassie said, "That virus was aimed for the Yeerks, not us humans, sure it may have caused humans to die once released…but they're deliberately making a virus that is going to kill Andalites on purpose? " 

I looked up at Lynn. "Lynn? How would they have known about Estrid and the virus?" 

"You were deep-frozen for twenty-years under _Sasi_ supervision, they must have tapped into your memories, all of you." 

"Ax, when you were talking to Estrid, what was it she said? What was it you told her? You said something like; if you are willing to kill all those that oppose you, how different does that make us, you Andalites, any different from the Yeerks." I snapped my fingers, "Our military probably thinks that's exactly what the Andalites have up their sleeves." 

Andalites wouldn't do that. 

"No," I said sarcastically to Ax, "Your Andalites probably wouldn't, but back twenty years ago, what I saw from you Andalites makes me sick, I don't see why all this is going to change." 

"Whoa." Cassie said, "You're just assuming." 

Lynn grinned, "Don't Assume, Assuming makes an ass of you and me." He grinned crazily, "Ass-u-me." 

We all stared at him. 

He shrugged. 

"Look, I don't care how bad the Andalites really are." Jake said slowly, "Germ warfare isn't the way towards solving things." 

I agree with Jake. Tobias said quietly. 

Cassie nodded and so did Rachel. 

"Yeah, you're right," I sighed, "I was just hopping someone other than us would have to do something about it." 

"Ax?" Jake said. 

He didn't reply, he stared at the screen. 

"Ax are you with us?" 

Ax finally stopped staring at the screen, Yes prince Jake. 

"How many times did I tell you not to call me prince." Jake groaned. 

Ax didn't give his usual, Yes prince Jake. 

He stared at the screen again. 


	13. Launch mission

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year.  A message to all of you who have sent all these positive reviews; thanks a lot, you don't know how encouraging you people are, I'll keep my end of the barging and keep up my work, I'm going to send in the next chapter very soon because not much happens here, don't worry though the excitement is far from over; I have a new batch of convincingly 'real' characters; they make up the humans who are anti-government, wherever you go in this world there are still people who hate the government, not surprising, more about that later though, it's a few chapters away.  LAUNCH MISSION

_ABOARD S-DOW_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 06:02_

_DATE: 05/06/2020_

_LOCATION: NORMAL SPACE 1500,000 METERS AWAY FROM THE SHE-EAGLE_

** MAJOR GENERAL ASI**

"Listen up major and listen up good," I heard Tetrass drawl in my earpiece, "We're going to show you the _hyber maneuver_. Chase? Are you ready?" 

"Yessssss, sssir!" He yelled, I almost yanked out my earpiece; he didn't have to shot this loud. 

"Do you mind?" I heard Rex ask Chase, "Next time you want to say yes, direct to empty space okay? We wouldn't have to hear you and our senses wouldn't be stunned." 

Chase hooted loudly. 

Tetrass and Rex both groaned. 

"Going _hyber_…one fifty-one, one-fifty-two, two- fifty-two, two-fifty-three…" Chase counted. 

I watched from my open view port, the windshield, and behind the green goggles of my mask. The green filters were for night-vision, and they filtered out light from explosions as well. 

In addition to my usual uniform I had a dark green jumpsuit on, it was a very nice addition, comfortable, it was very similar to the military uniform back home, only the material was different. 

I saw the two S-Dows head for each other as if they were on a collision course. At the very last second, they both changed angles so that the wings interlocked –without snapping- and twirled round, the tip of a wing of each fighter was held by the other's curve, the force and momentum of the ships stopped them from spiraling in the wrong direction. 

"How is this useful?" I asked. 

"You will see soon." Rex answered. 

I watched the fighters as they twirled round each other in a slanted axis, watched as both of them broke away and were flung out so fast that one second I was looking at the devilish sharp edged whirling curved irregular sphere, making a blurred S shape, and the next, nothing. 

I saw that one of the S-Dows had stopped completely but the other twisted and kept its momentum, it raced towards the test-fighter, they were practicing, and showing me some attacking techniques. 

The test fighter, a somewhat new, old model 22, Andalite fighter, was stationed a distance away, I watched as Tetrass, glided his fighter in, swept up, and changed angles so that his wing tip was sure to meet the fighter's arched main shredder and… 

Cut it off. 

Not blown, but cut. With his twin shredders he stunned the ship and glided swiftly away, all done flawlessly in seconds. 

"Why not just blow off his weapons?" I asked, "Why cut it, then jam the engine?" 

"Because there are times when we wouldn't be hunting in space." He replied casually, "Most of our work would be done in atmosphere of a planet. We're much faster than them in atmosphere," He paused, "And you know how shredders are in atmospheric conditions, what it there was a mist? The flash back could damage our ships." 

"I see," I said. "Whoever deigned them must have thought really hard and long about all this." 

"I did." Narl replied. 

"You designed these?" 

"Yes, Rex helped out with the assembling and the technical part," he replied, "Captain here and Chase wouldn't know a thing about making fighters, just ruining them." 

"What?" Tetrass said, mocking offense. "Are you saying I fly recklessly?" 

"I'm saying you're a killer." Narl muttered, "How many ships have suffered under your grip? A lot, the _Sasi_ aren't very happy." 

"When are they ever happy?" Chase said in exasperation, "A bunch of long faces, that's who they are." 

"I wanted to call them Shadows, because they're sleek and all." Rex said to me, apparently the others knew the story, "But Narl said S-Dow was better, it's almost like shadow only no 'h' and no 'a'." 

"Does it really mater what you call them?" I muttered, "I'd have given them a number." 

"What? After slaving away for months?" Rex said, surprised, "A name gotta reflect who this fighter is." 

"And you're saying S-Dow is good?" I asked skeptically. 

"It isn't bad." Narl said defensively. 

"I'd have called it, oh I don't know, how about Seven-seven-hundred?" 

"Seven-seven-hundred?" Chase snorted, "Yeah, and I'd like a pizza order with that. Don't forget the soda." 

"Seven-seven-hundred," Tetrass mused, "It has potential." 

"I can't see how." Narl said. 

"Yah, I see it," Rex said, "It's the double S and the zero's, man I _love_ double zero's." he laughed. 

"Undred." Tetrass continued his mussing, "Seefen-seefen-dred." 

"I called it S-Dow," Narl commented, "It's staying that way." 

"Seef…Senf…dread." Tetrass played with the words. 

"Where I come from, Seef means sword." I said. "Sayf. Actually, that's how we say it." 

"Seef-dread," Tetrass beamed, "I like it!" 

"S-Dow, it's S-Dow." Narl's voice had a sight hint of anguish in it. 

"Sure. S-Dow it is." Tetrass said, sounding distracted, "_Seef-dread._" 

"Oh, no." Narl moaned. 

"Aren't we supposed to move out?" Rex said. "We're wasting time." 

"Not until we show Ausi here another maneuver." Chase said. 

"No, we have to go, Rex is right." Tetrass said, "I'll call the transport that's going to trail us." 

"What for?" Chase wondered. 

"To keep our hunt's game in you dodo." Tetrass snapped, "What are we going to do? Draw a line and hang them on it?" 

"Now that's an image from dodo times. I'll hang on that." Chase said laughing, "Any of you picturing antelopes strung on sticks carried on the shoulders of African hunters wearing leopard skins?" 

Yes I was. 

Only the antelope was blue, it didn't have horns, it had stalk eyes and a blade stuck on a thick tail. And the captors wore exotic black skins; their gaze was that of a predator. 

The dead stare of the antelope was replaced with the desperate gaze of a doomed warrior. 

Not ours, theirs. 


	14. Wolf

NB WOLF

__

_ON PLANET EARTH_

_TIME: AFTERNOON_

_DATE: BEGINNING OF SPRING_

_LOCATION: SOUTHERN VALLEY- TERRITORY OF THORN'S PACK_

_ _ ****** SILVERN**

In. Out.

In. Out.

I felt my sides rise and fall with each breath I took, my muzzle touched the ground and I lay splayed across damp grass beneath an old oaken tree. 

Thud-Thud!

Thud-Thud!

My heart restlessly beating against my rig cage, just listening to it pumping blood around my body gave me comfort, comfort that I was still alive and well. 

Crunch! 

I resisted the impulse to jerk up. Instead I slowly raised my head from the ground, and still lying down I opened one golden colored eye and stared at my surroundings. 

Nothing. 

No source of the sound it was gone. 

I pulled my shoulders, neck and head up so that I was half sitting half lying down. 

I cast a look at my left foreleg, it was torn, I got into a fight with Bulshive, a lynx with a reputation of utter hatred to any wolf that happens to cross her path, well it was that and protecting her litter. 

I licked the wound clean again. Half closed my eyes. 

Yawned. 

SNAP! 

I jerked up. This was not exactly voluntary. I stood silent, on all fours, ears forwards and jaws ready. 

SNAP! Crunch snap, thud, thud, crunch, crunch.

"Offffff!" 

The sound was coming to my right, in front of me; I dove in a thicket, crouched low to the ground. 

"This is impossible!" 

SNAP! Crunch, crunch, thud! 

"Coommmmm'oon!" The voice gasped. "Urgh!" 

I smelt despair, fear, and sensed urgency in the air. 

"You lump of…I should…" In between gasps the human, as she appeared across from the trees, continued to talk, "I should…just go…catch me breath…they are…I swear!" 

I watched silently as the huffing and puffing human dragged a stranger of the valley along with her. 

"I should just drop you off I should…. stupid, aren't I? Me and my pity…say…urgh!" The human female, she wasn't very old, maybe sixteen, eighteen years of age.She stopped dragging the stranger across the ground, "Arrrgh!" She yelled in frustration, kicked it. 

The stranger groaned and moaned and started to get up on its feet. 

"Sorry!" The human gasped, still panting, "Its just that…you're so heavy and I was so tired, you aren't angry fell'er are you? I didn't mean it, I swear it!" 

"Linka Ghool, is…thankful. Linka is happy that he is free." His voice was husky and low. 

"Got that right mate, we aren't getting back there soon." 

"Yes, not go back there soon, not go back there at all." He nodded his bladed head. "Where to?" 

"I dunno. What do you reckon?" 

"Human have no home in forest?" 

"Naoow. Naaow. We left the forest long, long ago, I know next to noting about it, oh well, I do know a few things 'bout it, like maybe they got a few tigers and lions." 

Throughout the time I had laid silent, the two creatures didn't look like they were going to go anywhere too soon. 

I decided to take a drastic measure, besides, I was supposed to be helping getting humans back, according to Aftran; any human that isn't a controller is a free human. 

These two had talked about being free…but the stranger…could he be free as well? 

Didn't matter, I suppose I could fight even with him, even with my bad leg. 

I slinked out of the thicket quietly and inched towards the two. I yipped quietly to get their attention. 

They turned, both of them. 

The stranger stared, the human yelped. 

"Arrgh! It's a wolf! Run, run, run! Before he makes dog food of both you and I!" 

The human ran, the stranger stood stupid, not really knowing what do, and he hadn't made up his mind about what to do either. 

I stood in the plain view and watched them calmly, the human had ran a few feet then stopped and looked back at me. 

"It's not wanting to hurt us, what do you think Linka?" 

"Linka not know." 

The human started coming back. When she reached the stranger she paused, then took a step forward, looking at my ripped foreleg. 

I did something normally wouldn't do, but since I was in the company of a human…a true human I should say, I decided to experiment, put my knowledge to the test. 

I looked into her eyes and as she took another step, I took a step back, tail tucked down. A posture of submission. 

"You're not going to attack us fell'er are you?" She said softly, "look at your leg, got yourself into down right trouble haven't you?" 

I shifted uneasily, would she come closer? 

She did. 

I took another step back, and somewhere, deep in my brain, a voice screamed _ go, _ _go Silvern go! You fool. Go!_

But I stayed, and the human stepped forward, I could smell her fear. I could smell her fear just as well as I could smell my own. 

_ You can attack! Or run! Outrun her! You can! GO!_

I stood my ground, watched with paralyzed fear, fear so sudden that it choked me. 

_You fool! You defied nature's law, what are you doing! Now you would die. Yes you would, you foolish wolf._

The human knelt on a knee, reached out with a hand and- 

I jerked back, black lips drawn revealing glistening teeth. 

"Easy." She muttered, she ripped part of the dead skins that she wore and looked at me, in my eyes. 

I stopped snarling, her gaze took my breath away. 

The knowledge. 

The power. 

Power to help. 

Knowledge to understand. 

And fear. Mixed up with all of it was fear. 

Of me, of the wolf. 

Of what I could do? What? What could I do? I'm completely terrified! 

She reached with a trembling hand and her fingers froze and- 

My heart hammered. 

-her finger tips brushed my fur. 

"Yereow!" 

She jumped back, I jerked away and ran off. 

"Come back wolf! Come back! I'm not going to hurt you!" 

What was I thinking? 

But Herne, he was human too, even though...I shook my head angrily; human Herne was, even though I have kept him in close company, I had always kept my distance physically, and sometimes mentally. 

Yet I never…I never met a real human, sure Herne was human, but he was accustomed to life as a human with us wolves and with Achivil…that human…the female…her green eyes burned into mine, her auburn hair glistened in the late sun…she was purely human…and not until then had I really realized that I wanted to know what it would be like. 

It terrified me. 

You are wolf.

But Aftran the Yeerk was a Yeerk, only her body and half her brain was whale. 

A technology, she said it allowed one to become an animal for a period of time, experience senses the way that animal would. She said she trapped herself. 

I talked to Aftran, when Herne was gone, of course, he had stayed for a long time along side the whale, but I asked Aftran…and the answer…Aftran wouldn't understand, why would he? 

I asked him about being a Yeerk. 

A Yeerk in a human brain. I told him what word would you use to describe the feeling? To be human and intercept the world not only as human physically, but the way only a human could see the world. 

Aftran said a word is not enough to describe the feeling, from someone who was utterly inhuman, and strange… the sensations were overpowering. 

I was not human, and I was strange. 

And even though I keep my distance from humans. I know it is pretence. 

A lot of wolves suspected this, they have seen me watch them, watch the strange humans with queer smells. The controllers. 

And why? 

Because I envy them. 

Silvern the human lover. Silvern a wolf that was bound to sell himself to the humans. 

They had a world I could only dream about. And even if the humans did come back, I still would never experience what it would be like to be human. 

I caught a flash of something long ago, when I was a young cub. I saw my mother bathed in the orange glow of campfire, inching towards the human…him placing a hand on her head. 

She liked it. 

And I thought it disturbed her slightly. 

It didn't. 

She liked the human touch. 

Mother, did she know anything about this? Could she explain to me…could she explain why I was having problems with myself? 

_'Problems with Silvern.'_ I sneered at myself, _'you grow human every day. You make me sick.'_

That came from the wolf inside me. 

And that made me sad, very sad indeed. 


	15. Companions

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year.  COMPANIONS

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 12:42_

_DATE: 06/06/2020_

_LOCATION: C.C HEADQUARTERS, HART'S CHAMBERS_

** ISIS**

"All right, all right," Someone said from across the room, "let's hear it shall we?"

"Which one are you asking for?" An old man's irritated voice from ahead asked.

"Let's hear Withelbars'. His poem…what's it's name?" The same person from across the room asked.

"Withelbars' … Withelbars' …where are you…?" The old voice murmured from the top. You could hear the ruffling of paper.

"We'll wait for him to age another century." A sarcastic remark.

"Shut you up." The old man's voice wavered from age. "Ah. There it is…"

"What's it called?"

"It's called…it's called." More searching. "What's mine is not yours. But what's ours is yours as well."

"What is?" The person who threw the sarcastic remark wondered.

"The poem."

"Say what?"

"What's mine is not yours, but what's ours is yours too."

"I thought I heard 'yours as well.'" A voice complained.

The old man muttered "So it is…"

The Commoners Committee members engaged in talk.

"People…people…" The old man said, "Let's hear what Withelbars had to say."

Murmur of agreement.

"Reader, read."A voice announced. "Read…what's the blasted title?"

"What's mine is not yours, but what's our is your as well."

And a clear male voice read. 

"I've written a poem; seven,

eight…no nine lines it was.

It talked about the beauty of

my she-species, her flashing

eyes and graceful gait, I've

talked about her blond hair-

trailing like rays from a golden

sun- and talked about her blue

eyes- blue, like the vast expanse

of our oceans- and talked bout

her lips- violet red…no scarlet-

Say what? You don't have a

mouth at all? Nor two blue

eyes to see from…no? _Four_

you say! Then you could see

much more than I, friend, the

poem I've written not just about

the she-human, but about my

trees as well, about their swaying

in the wind, the flowers scenting

the breeze about the stags bucking

in the glen…but no you wouldn't

understand, I've written it in

My language, the human language,

for how could you possibly

imagine… Say what?

You have pink leaves and blue

bark? You have red grass and

four moons?

Why, we had one moon and

even this was stolen from

us! Dead as it was and

barren…it was ours! We

marked it with a flag and a

couple of foot prints. Ours!

We have set our gazes open

it from thy past and pondered

what Human face peers down

upon us, we thought we saw

rivers and streams and high

mountain peeks…say what?

Your moons have what we

_ thought_ we saw in ours. What

live imagination do _we_ have?

But no, my friend, only if you

could read this poem…understand

thy beauty of it's words doth it sing,

but your langue…mine…

Nay, our birds sing their cheerful verses

and your three

Are dead to their songs

and tradition…"

There was a silence as they allowed themselves to digest all this. Then a person spoke, "So is he against or with Alem?"

Alem is a poet who believes that even though there is a visual difference between humans and Andalites they are very similar.

The entire galaxy thinks not so.

But a few thoughtful humans thinking abstractly think so too. Alem is a known one, he makes his points very clearly and cleverly, but people are starting to have second thoughts about Withelbars' view on this.

"He's in between." Called out the voice, "Either that or he's trying to make a point."

"I think he's against. Nothing said there could have possible been shared…" Another said, "He talks about two different languages."

"So he does. But he talks about seeing things with four eyes and the way the human tries to entwine what's human with what's not."

"So everyone thinks that the poet's persona is a human?"

Murmurs of agreement.

"He's only musing about what the Andalite says, you don't hear the Andalite speaking but this way…Oh I don't know, it seems like he's having a conversation."

"But isn't it the Andalite that points out the similarities?"

"Not really pointing out, he's sharing what he sees as what he has and what the human doesn't. Two eyes, no four, pink leaves, blue bark, four moons. We have one, see? The human points out what he has and well, see the negatives. " The voice paused slightly, "'Four moons? Why we had one and even this was stolen.' I think he's implying it's their fault and not the enemy's."

"He?" A female voice called out, irritated, "Is everything you hear a he? It could have been a her."

"This time it is a he." The voice said, "Sorry Janet, I'm not being sexist here. But why on earth would a human talk to the Andalite telling him about a 'she human' and 'her flashing eyes'? Wouldn't make sense."

Janet person was quiet, beaten, her argument at a standstill, but she said, "Well, that's a first."

"I like the thing about the languages." A dreamy voice said, "In the poem, he says he'd written another, he talks about all the things he described, nature, birds, females…when you think about it he's talking about _this_ poem, and the two languages, not languages at all, by language he means understanding."

I stood up. I was going to leave. I felt worn out tried.

I had a feeling that a dozen eyes were staring at me, but I made it out with the help of Kes, my guide dog, you see, I'm blind.

And the talks about the negatives upset me slightly.

The way Withelbars pointed out the things we humans didn't have, we no longer had a moon, or a planet, no longer trees or the vast expanses of the skies…But our ocean! Our oceans.

I yearned to hear her voice again. The ocean.

To hear it when she was calm, the soft slosh-slosh. To hear her angry waves as they hit the rocks with massive forces crash! crash!

I have long forgotten the way all things looked, forgot what color was, and forgot what the waves looked like, the huge skies, and the towering mountains.

Things like these were abstract to me; scarlet and blue and green and pink…all abstract things. For me black was reality.

I made my way back to my section of the preserve it wasn't far.

And when I smelt the sea…waited for Firnet to greet me, hear her complex mixture of clicks and squeaks, enter the water and feel her swim around me.

Firnet is a dolphin.

I am a human, but we are friends. I saved her; she lives in the preserve now, in the ocean part of it.

I often swim along side her.

Since I was blind, the underwater feeling gave me control over my environment, I wouldn't have to take care where I walk, not have to be walk with my legs brushing dog fur.

I may have forgotten color, I may have forgotten my own face, what I looked like, but I still remembered dolphins.

Today I didn't jump in with her, I sat down along the rocks and detected her presence, Kes sat down beside me, laid his head on my lap.

"Hey there Firnet." I said smiling, knowing that even though I couldn't see her grinning face she could see my smile only too well.

I heard clicks, then a splash of water.

I played around with Kes and Firnet. When I fist got Kes he was a bit edgy around Firnet, but now they were friends.

Kes learned to swim, only after he became friends with Firnet.

In my childhood, I had a fear of the waters, especially deep waters. And I almost drowned, actually, a white shark molded me, I still bear the scars along my chest and my face.

Firnet's pod saved me, not from the shark, as he or she just wanted a bit out of me, it had mistaken me as a seal.

And then our friendship began.

But that's not what I was thinking of, I was thinking about what a friend of mine said, a friend from the military.

A person that I had known to have affection towards me, not that she'll ever admit it.

It was before my accident, I used to be a _Masi_, but I survived a fighter wreckage that cost me my sight.

She was an _Asi_ much too wrapped up in her work, an _Asi_ who had ambitions and…well, back then she wasn't _Asi_ and I wasn't _Masi_, there was no such thing.

Asi made the _Asi_, but back then, she was just a warrior.

And I was just a fighter pilot.

But we had feeling for each other.

Asi called, out of the blue, asking a favor. She said I was the only friend she had, the only one she fully trusts.

And I asked her what this favor of hers was.

She said she needed someone to take care of her sister's baby.

And I understood. I said I'd think about it.

And I thought about it, I knew my answer.

I thought about it carefully, because that meant moving in with her and that could arose complications...

I would say yes.

I may have the C.C, I may have Kes as a friend, and I may have my soul friend, a dolphin named Firnet.

But I longed for a friend. The C.C were strangers, Kes a dog, Firnet a dolphin. On the other hand Asi is a human.

I'm a human too.


	16. The encounter

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year.  THE ENCOUNTER

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 22:02_

_DATE: 07/06/2020_

_LOCATION: ASI'S OFFICE_

** LYNN**

We were arranged in a loose circle, I was sitting on Asi's chair, the one behind her desk, Jake and Marco sat in front of me on two opposed chaired, Tobias was perched on the sill near the view port, Cassie stood near him gazing out at the stars. The Andalite stood at a side silent and Rachel had gone to use the bathroom.

"So what do we do about it?" I asked, "We can't just go to the _Sasi_ and tell them what we know, they'd throw me in military prison for hacking into their files!"

"Yeah, well I knew that wouldn't work." Marco muttered.

Then what would? Tobias wondered.

We could warn the Andalite government, Ax said hesitantly, They will oppose them…

"Yeah, this way they'd think someone tipped them off," Marco said thoughtfully, "So what do we do? Get Ax to phone home? ET version?"

I shook my head, "No way can you transmit anything from the mother ship without it being intercepted, we'd have to _go_ to the Andalite planet."

Ax stiffened slightly, And how will they know that it is Andalites that are in the fighter? If we got a human fighter then they might not be very friendly.

"Maybe not," I agreed, "So we get an Andalite fighter."

They all stared at me.

"And where do we get that?" Rachel said from the doorway, "Cool plan by the way."

"Good grief." Marco muttered.

I looked down at Asi's desk, nothing useful on it.

"How do you think they got all these Andalites?" Cassie said slowly, "They weren't just stranded in space…" She looked abashed, "I hope not."

"No, they'd probably shoot them down…" I trailed off, I looked away from Ax, "I think I know where the fighters are, I overheard a _Masi_ talk about it."

"Sure." Jake said briskly, "Then we better get going."

"Uhuh, before they notice that we're up to something then it'll be way too late." Marco said.

"There's a problem." I said, "How am I going to take all of you in there, it wouldn't look too suspicious if I went alone but-"

"We morph." Marco said, "Something small, anything but fleas."

"Anything but flies, I got swatted once." Jake said.

"Uhuh, I was almost trapped as a flea," Marco. They all shuddered.

Marco once ate me, as a spider. Ax muttered.

Marco turned on Ax, "Hey, I lost control for a few seconds, that snake was a new morph!"

He poisoned me at the same time. He tried to perform the act of spitting but the snake's tongue was too thin.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Marco said,

"Come on, we haven't got time to waste." 

I ended up carrying three cockroaches, two fleas, and some kind of spider. I walked hurriedly out of the office and down a corridor; I reached the inner drop shafts, stepped off a level and walked down a wider corridor. 

I tired to look as if I belong there; it wasn't easy with every single _Masi_ or _Asi_ walking past me giving me a look. 

I passed three checkpoints and managed not to get my bugs detected. I sneaked into the last area that proved to be quiet a challenge I wasn't authorized to enter. 

"Hey. Guys." I whispered, "I've got a problem." 

What is it? Jake asked testily. 

"I can't go in, they'd know for sure I'm up to something." 

You need a distraction? Marco asked. 

"How about you getting ahead of me, start a fighter and freak whoever is in there and open the docking gates for me?" 

Not a very good plan. Marco commented. 

"Do you have anything up your sleeve?" 

Not really. Not that I have sleeves. 

"Then it will have to do." 

How much are we on time? Ax? Jake asked.

We have been in morph for thirty minutes. 

Okay, we're leaving. 

"Yeah, well don't forget me behind, I don't want to be stuck here." 

Don't worry, we wouldn't dream of leaving you behind. 

I waited silently, crouched behind couple of big wooden boxes of god knows what. 

And then just when I really thought they were really going to go without me…

WRAAAAH! WRAAAAH! WRAAAAH!

The alarm! 

Three _Masi _shoved out of the docking bay and bolted towards the nearby checkpoint, "Something's going on there! A fighter just started up and- HEY! YOU!" 

"What do you think you're doing here?!" 

The _Masi_ spotted me, he wasn't very happy. 

Lynn? How about coming out, like, I don't know, now? 

"I'm in trouble." I yelped, but they couldn't hear me, I shot towards the docking bay, the _Masi_ who spotted me ran behind me. 

He was fast. Faster than me, but I head a head start, I moved in to the docking bay. "GUYS!" I screamed, "HELP!" 

What? I heard Tobias say, Lynn where are you? What's taking you so long? 

"STOP IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!" The _Masi _bellowed. 

Oh-shit. Tobias said. He must have heard the racket. 

"Uh- which fighter?" I yelled.

"STOP or I'll SHOOT." He roared.

I saw the ramp of one of the fighters open. I ran towards it.

I glanced behind me and saw that he had grabbed his holstered shredder and aimed it at me.

I looked forward. Tripped.

TSSSAP!

Miss!

I staggered up to my feet; I saw the faces of Jake and Rachel in front of me.

Almost there.

TSSSSSSAP!

Not a miss, I got hit, fortunately he had it on stun.

I slumped towards the ground. Barely conscious that someone was dragging me…but in which direction…couldn't see…

I was unconscious. I didn't know for how long.

My eyes snapped open suddenly. I was lying on grass. My eyes stared at a sky. A hologram. I jerked up. I made it. I was in the fighter.

"Urgh." I groaned, my head felt as if someone had…well as if someone had stunned me, "How long was I out?" I asked Cassie.

"Five hours."

I stood up, "Man that was a stupid idea, what a lousy way to get shot."

I looked around, the Andalite was at the helm, Jake and Marco were staring at the weapon controls, and Rachel and Tobias were sitting in a corner.

I cast a look at an open window, "We made it to Z-space?"

Yes. Ax said.

"That's a relief," I said, "Did they try to chase you?"

"Nah," Marco said coming over to me, "We didn't waste time waiting. We were like so out of there."

I nodded.

I was looking at the star chart. The Andalite said, We are not very far from the Andalite home world.

"Yup, less than a week away."

Z-space is on our side this time. Ax said.

"Before it reconfigures." I agreed, I walked towards the controls, I realized I've flown this type of fighter once…where was it though? It was that videogame T-45. Cool game, great plot, and excellent graphics. Not to mention the terrific sound play.

We spent our time just joking around first, but after that no one was in the mood to do anything. Lucky we've managed to find ourselves things to eat, mainly Andalite stuff, Tobias morphed human to eat, it did not taste good, it was some green liquid, Ax said is was the relevance of liquefied grass, given to Andalites who were too injured to eat properly.

I took the helm and Ax went off to sleep, it was time to make the translation to normal space.

Brilliant stars filled my view, Tobias said, Beautiful isn't it?

"Yeah." I said. But then I frowned, "What's that?"

"What?" Marco said drawing closer. The rest were all asleep.

"Computer? Magnify." The area of space I was looking at was enlarged, the black dots I saw moving against black were now fighters, but they were far away.

They looked weird too.

They weren't very large, small actually; very small compared to the fighter we were in.

The fighters had two curved wings with serrated edges, what looked like blades sticking out like feathers and a diamond shaped cockpit.

"Who _are_ they?" I said, something about them disturbed me, I punched up a hard burn and sped a distance away from them, but they didn't seem interested in us, they flew in an opposite direction, parallel to us.

"Ax!" Marco yelled, "Hey Ax!"

He arrived, he looked at Marco, then at Tobias then finally me, What? But he caught the screen.

He moved closer and focused his main eyes on it. Cassie, Jake and Rachel woke up and headed towards us.

"What's that?" Jake asked.

"I don't know, I was hoping maybe Ax knew." Marco replied, he looked at Ax hopefully.

I have never seen a fighter quite like this before, it's even lower in height than a Skrit Na raider.

"Whoever they are, they don't look friendly." I muttered, "Why have a fighter this small?"

"Maybe whoever's in it smaller." Marco said.

We shrugged it off.

I frowned, "Hey, aren't they heading towards us?"

Ax stepped up towards the console.

I am afraid so.

"Cool. I get the weapons station." Marco grinned.

"No, you got it last time." Jake said, "It's my turn."

"No way, you had your turn last time, remember-"

"Boys with their toys." Cassie teased.

"Both of you." I said, "Shut up, neither of you are going to take the weapons station. I am."

"Yeah right." Marco said, "Hey, Jake tell him he's joining us, not us joining him, I'm taking the weapons."

Please solve your argument hastily, the fighters are accelerating at a startling rate towards us, and I do need someone on the weapons station, Ax paused, turned a stalk eyes at both Jake and Marco, and I hopeit does not happen to be either of you.

Jake and Marco started at each other, Marco said, "Okaaaay, he didn't like the way I drove that doesn't make me a lousy shot."

"Yes it does, if your driving is worse then my mother's piloting a fighter then you qualify as appalling." I muttered.

"I do _not._" Marco sounded like he was pouting, "Tell him Jake, Cassie?"

"Sorry, I'm picturing my father's tattered truck"

I laughed, "You couldn't drive a car?"

"It was my first time." Marco said in exasperation.

"You're not touching the weapons," I slid into the space. "That's the end of it."

I stared at the screen in front of me; I saw the squadron of fighter take a V-shape, like geese in flight. This was strange enough but then-

FWWWWOM!

Whoa! Ax yelped.

"No way!" I yelled.

The fighters were in front to us! In front us! They covered the long distance in effortless glides!

Get a clear shot of the engines! Ax said.

"What engines?!" I screamed as two of the fighters shot behind us, we had three in front, one of the fighters had a blue light blinked on the side, the light traveled the length of the wing then back, it was a deep electric blue. "Where the heck are the engines!?"

"Who cares? Just blow them off!" Rachel blurted.

"I can't do that, we don't know who they are!" I said, "Besides, they hadn't yet fired at us-"

TSSSAP!

"Arh!" I yelped. "Okay, okay that does it!"

I grabbed the controls and lined the cross-hairs at the cockpit of one of the advancing fighters, "Hold it steady Ax," I said, "I'm gonna get him."

I felt the warmth of the weapons then a hum-

TSSSSE-

WHOOOOM!

A sudden force hit our fighter and all of us were thrown to the ground.

"Hey!" I struggled to my feet, Ax scrambled up quickly. "I can't believe it! I Missed! That's not fair! I almost had him, if not for that stupid fighter that snuck up behind us-" I trailed off and lined the cross-hairs again, I aimed again.

"Haha, he's not even attempting to move, what is he dumb?" I sneered.

Maybe it's a last minute kind of thing. Tobias said.

"I don't think so." I pressed the control.

Nothing.

No hum, no warmth, no shredder fire.

Our main shredder is out. Ax commented in admirable calmness, And they're coming in slow.

"We're loosing?" Rachel said in disbelief, "What? This quickly? No way!"

TSAAAAAP!

They shot our main left engine! Ax yelled. We haven't got a prayer!

Then suddenly, the fighters left, disappeared, ran to Z-space.

"What?" I said stupidly, "Aren't they going to finish us off?"

It appears that we have bigger problem on our hands. Ax commented, his voice tight.

"What?"

But he didn't need to say anything, we saw it, we all did, a ship made a translation from Z-space to normal space.

A blade ship.

We were out, we had our left main engine shot, and no powerful weapons at all, in case you can't add up these problems, this makes us dead meat.

"What do we do?" I gasped, my throat felt as if it was being squeezed against my neck.

"Don't panic." Jake commanded.

"Well, that's going to be very easy, anything else O' fearless leader?" Marco whispered, like maybe whispering would keep us invisible. It didn't, the ship had seen us and was moving towards us.

"Stay cool."

"Are you trying to make a joke?" Marco said, "'cause if you are, it's not the time to practice."

We can morph something small. Tobias suggested.

"And they come here and see what?" Jake said, "Forget it, they'll catch us all."

Only if they had one Andalite to look at, Prince Jake I believe that if I stayed in Andalite form and the rest of you morphed small insects you will enter undetected. And may find a way out.

"You could get killed, at worst, made a controller." Jake said.

If I get killed I would buy you time. Ax replied.

"No, I don't think that's a good plan." Jake shook his head.

"We haven't got a choice." Marco pointed out, "What? You reckon it's safer if all of us stay like this?"

Jake bit his lip.

It's okay Jake, I'll stay with Ax. That way, in a fight, there would be two of us in morph, well, one in morph, but both capable of damage. Tobias offered.

"I say we do it," Rachel said, but she lacked enthusiasm, she looked at Tobias, he looked at her with fierce brown eyes.

"No." Jake shook his head again, "We don't know what we're up against."

"Which Visser's ship do you think it is?" Cassie wondered.

"I don't want to know." Marco muttered, "I'd have to look it up the Visser's directly, excuse me, but you're number?"

"What do I do?" I said, "I can't morph."

Jake looked at me startled, "Oh. Right."

"Uhuh, not that I mean to be rude," Marco turned to me, "But stay out of the way, okay?"

I shrugged like it was no big deal, "Sure."

"I don't like this plan." Jake grumbled.

"Yeah, well it's the only one we got, whether we like it or not." Marco reminded him. "Besides, what plan are you talking about?"

"Okay, okay, everyone? Battle morphs, come on, quick, quick-"

"Alright!" Rachel yelled, their was something fierce in her eyes.

BOOM!

The floor shook underneath us.

"They got us," I said, edging as far as I could from the hatch, "We docked."

No one had started morphing, it was sudden, the hatch blew in.

And what bound in surprised me. I mean, I expected Hork-Bajir to rush in, Taxxons, human controllers not-

"What the-" Jake started to say when he got punched in the face.

The guy who punched him wasn't particularly huge, nor was he medium built, he was skinny, sort of, human.

He wore black leather trousers. Black leather jacket, which was open and showed that he wore nothing underneath. A chain dangled from his neck, his hair was shaved off completely, and his crooked nose was pierced, and on it was a hammered silver loop that matched the ones at right ear, three on his right ear.

He glared at us and raised a knife. I backed off, he leapt forward and grabbed Cassie, she shrieked but he held her against his chest, blade at her throat. "Nobody moves!"

"Cassie!" Jake moved forward. But stopped as Cassie's captor tightened his hold.

That was fine by me I wasn't going to budge. But I'll speak, besides, the other probably have no idea how to handle that…that thing.

"Hey, hey. Easy." I said, "We don't want anyone to get hurt, okay?"

He glared at me like maybe I had thrown an insult or something, the punk pointed with his knife at me, "Shut it, Asi kin."

I wasn't surprised that he knew me, or at least that I was a relative of Asi's.

"Look." I snapped, the guy whoever he was, turned round to glance out of the blown hatch, "Take me, and leave the girl okay?"

"Ashley! ASH!" He yelled ignoring me, "Come on! Call the others we're outta time, Visser one is gonna be here any second now!"

"That slime bag is still alive?" Rachel wondered.

"Visser one?" I yelped, "What are you people nuts? Okay I knew you people do pretty crazy things but-"

Another one of his gang members entered, dressed just like him, similarly, but his leather jacket was missing, he too had his skin pierced in a number of places, but this guy had hair, if you want to call the spiked black sticks on his head hair.

"Eh, Solo." He glanced at the guy who held Cassie, "You and the girl, along with him- " He marched to me and grabbed me by the shoulder. "Keep an eye on them."

"You got it M.D." Solo said, "But what happened."

"What happened? What happened? They know we're here, that's what happened,," M.D person yelled, "Now don't waste time, I'm to get Police, Cricket and-"

"What about Ashley?" Solo gasped, "Is she…?"

"I'm fine Solo." A girl entered the fighter and I tried not to stare at her too hard.

We heard yelling outside.

The boy, M.D, who was snapping out the orders cursed. "POLICE! GET IN HERE NOW!" He paused and looked at Solo, "Solo? Come on, man move it."

"Sure, Mad Dog." He turned and motioned at Marco, then pointed at the helm.

I dove in, "He can't pilot a ship. He's clueless, he'll ram us at the side of the blade ship, we'd be goners."

"Eh?" He said blankly.

"I'll drive." I said.

"No you wouldn't." Ashleygirl strode forward and shoved me out of the way.

Yerrrow!

"Ahh!" I yelled in surprise, a blur of tan and black spots slammed me to the wall.

"Korax." Ashley said. She raised an arm in the air, the thing that skidded into me, a cheetah, reared up on its hind legs and touched Ashley's palm with its muzzle. "Where's Chita, boy?"

Chita, I assumed, and another cheetah entered the fighter, followed by another boy with brown hair and two girls that wouldn't stop moving.

"Lets go! Lets go!" Solo yelled, "Cricket? Close the hatch."

"Let's move it," M.D said, glaring at Solo, like maybe he crossed the line or something, "Close the hatch, people, people, sit down will you? You're crowding the area, Ashley, honey, your cats are great really, but please shut them away in that quarter, I wouldn't want them slashing into someone, Cricket? Get the helm. Lets move it People!"


	17. SWAT

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year.  SWAT

_ABOARD THE ANDALITE FIGHTER_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 04:08_

_DATE: 08/06/2020_

_LOCATION: Z-SPACE_

** SOLO**

"SHUT IT UP!" M.D roared. "Everybody shut up and sit down."

I pressed my lips in a firm line, but I obeyed, I sat on the grass, so did everybody, except for the bird, and the Andalite he stood watching us, me in particular, naturally I stared at him till he turned away. I kept on staring even though none of his eyes were pointed my way.

My name is Solo.

And here is what you have to know, you don't give yourself a name, your momma doesn't give you a name, well she does otherwise she'd be calling you young man, which, by the way, was exactly what my mom called me… but that doesn't matter, my point is, when you grow up -which in some peoples cases like say Cricket, takes a life time to achieve- that's when you get yourself a name, a name from your friends.

So, my name is Solo. I'm twenty-five years old, and a half.

I don't mean anything with 'and a half'.

I think I mentioned my name already, but in case you and I met on bad terms I'm turning a fresh page for you, I didn't mean to grab that black girl there but I needed control and fast, I would have grabbed the blond or the short guy with black hair, but they were further off.

As you may or may not have noticed, which you must have because only a blind guy could not notice my appearance as a bit strange, I am part of a cult.

We call ourselves SWAT.

No, no, not the Special Weapons and Tactics kind of SWAT, but the Save the World from Alien Tyranny; SWAT.

And we have our views on what we should wear, okay, so we've got our bodies pierced in way to many places, that doesn't make me alien, does it?

I'm Solo; one of my best friends is called M.D short for Mad Dog, or was it what we gave the abbreviation to mean? Couldn't remember.

I've got my head shaved, no thanks to M.D, he got me in this situation with other SWAT members that involved a bad game of _Rty _and the losers shave their heads off.

There was one loser.

Me.

Laugh all you like, it's too bad my fingers couldn't reach out of cyber world and strangle you for it, I could do a pretty good impersonation though, but then again…maybe not, it's a free world you can laugh, but don't laugh at me.

Ash short for Ashley. I care for the girl.

Yup and she liked my head much better before I disfigured myself, she said she noticed that my skull was a little irregular in shape but the rest of me is normal.

Ash owns three pets, and its hard to see that the skinny girl with bright red, spiky hair, pale completion, lips and nails painted black with a pierced nose, a pierced tongue and a pierced belly button could actually be a nature loving, tree hugging freak.

I am too.

Hard to imagine huh?

But if you live in this era you've gotta believe that looks aren't everything, and to some certain extent, backgrounds.

I know a human girl that fell in love with a taxxon _nothlit_, Andalite of course, only they've got the morphing technology.

Which personally kills Cricket, another one of my team members, by the way, before I go on, when I said SWAT I didn't mean my six friends and I as SWAT, I was talking about a cult of around a few hundred members. All anti-government.

Cricket, and when I say his name three things should flash across your mind; smart mouth, irresponsible and a sense of humor that's highly overrated. Other than that I guess he's okay, but he doesn't like me that much, and I don't like him either, it's not a whole 'I just can't stand your guts 'swati' brother but I gotta ram this knife in your nerve endings.' it unofficial, between the lines. Ever attended a literature class? How many times would your teacher repeat 'it's between the lines you just have to read. Dude.'

By the way, its only my literature teacher that says dude, the rest say something on the lines of…just forget it, I've got to intro the rest first, then we can have friendly chitchat.

Okay, you know M.D, he's the leader by the way, Ashley who owns the cheetah brothers; Korax, Chita and Sancowl. There's Cricket and me, and finally; Police.

Okay, let me back up a little, Police is not 'a' person, Police is two. But whenever you want to talk to either you'd have to say 'Hey Police' and the info goes in both of their heads.

Polly and Ice. Police. Siamese twins, literal carbon copies. And they act like it.

If Polly tilts her head one way sending her short white/blond hair on her eyes, on another planet, Ice would be doing that too. The girls have got an annoying habit of finishing off each other's sentences, a habit they were losing these days, maybe it was just me but these two were changing. Anyway. in tight situation, this could be very, very nerve wracking, take it from the guy who cracked and kicked one of them.

Police didn't get hurt. And I keep saying Police because I don't know which of them was it I kicked, and if one of them is hurting, I'll give you ten bucks she's going to sit down while her twin clawed hell out of my face, or arms, or whatever is in reach.

You want to know what's a rare sight? The twins talking to each other in public. I'm sorry to say I spied on Police but the girls, when alone, 'think talk' aloud. In public, the two engage in a conversation via us, and when you get to know them better you'd understand.

But that would be hard, this is because Ice rarely talks, take it form me, I've known the twins for just over two years, Polly's the big mouth; all talk and no action and her sister, Ice is all action and no talk. Personally, I don't like Ice, there's something dark about her. Polly is a good-natured sociable girl; Ice is anti-social, difficult to deal with, solitary. She also proved to think in a couple of dark levels.

Polly is older than Ice by ten minutes, as Police was explain to the amazed Andalite.

How is that so?

"Well, my mom couldn't have given birth to us at once. Well, it was an almost, if mom had us born premature then I suppose we'd have been literally 'stuck' together, but we weren't."

He frowned, And who is older?

"I am," Polly said nodded to her twin, "Not- not that it matters in anyway."

"Nope, not that it maters." Ice said looking directly at Ax.

This is highly unusual, it is as if one morphed the other.

"We're twins, what did you expect, don't Andalites have twins?" Polly asked.

No.

"I've heard of a woman having quadruplets. Four identical kids." Marco said brightly.

"What's it when they have five? I once saw a movie about a woman having five at a time. But she and the father couldn't support them since they needed special medical attention. And it was at that time were money was important. So," I said, "Sad story."

"Yeah. Solo and I watched it." Ash said smiling, recalling the memory, "And it was so sad, the woman had her children taken from her and the kids became celebrities and all the mother could do was watch them grow up on Tele."

What? Humans _do_ things like that?

"Its pretend," Ash said, "Movie, actors."

"You never know," Black girl, whom I now know is called Cassie said.

"Sorry," M.D said grinning sheepishly looking out of Z-space, "About the way we came in here, but there was no time to explain."

"So were was it you said you're going?" I asked.

"Why would we want to tell a bunch of criminals?" The boy, Lynn, sneered, "Hey, why don't you stop pretending and do what you really came here to do, animals."

"If you say 'criminals' or 'animals' one more time, man, you and I would be on very, very bad terms." Cricket said cocking an eyebrow at Lynn.

"But it's true. You violate a lot of the human governments regulations," Lynn sneered, "And you're traitors, you be-friend Yeerks."

Jake raised an eyebrow. Cassie looked interested. "What?"

"It a peace thing," Ash explained, " Some of our members are willing symbiotic partners."

The Andalite, no big surprise, snorted, That is not possible.

"Cricket has a Yeerk partner," I said sounding surprised, "They lived together like this for over five years now."

Ax stared at Cricket, but Cricket was busy at the helm.

What if you are betrayed.

"We wouldn't. The Yeerks who join the SWAT forces are also against the Yeerk Empire."

Would you take a Yeerks's word?

"Would I take an Andalite's word?" Cricket countered, "Sorry, it's not that it's the Yeerk who's speaking through me, I just can't stand you blue guys. Where I come from"- a grin cracked his face into two-"Blue is _baaad_."

The Andalite stared at him.

"It's not a mindless thought." Cricket said, "I thought about it for a long time, nothing you Andalites do is impressive at all, you hide behind lies, you pretend to be doing things, you lose wars and still think the universe is yours, no wonder the Yeerks hate you so much, and I tell you this much, it isn't because of your 'intelligence'."

"Cricket, not the time." M.D said, he looked at the Andalite and said, "He has his views, we have others."

"How was Earth like?" Ash said dreamily, "You must have known. You animorphs, right?"

Cassie looked at her, "You've never been on Earth?"

"I wasn't even born on Earth." Ash said sadly, "Solo was, but he was too young to remember any of it, we all were."

"What about the preserves in the mother ship?" Rachel asked, "You'd know what Earth looked like if you walked through it."

"I've been through the preserve once," Ash said carefully, "That's before I turned SWAT, I'm not allowed on the _She-Eagle_. If they catch me they'll charge me as a criminal, just as your friend here noted,"–she nodded at Lynn-"but, even then I don't think the preserves are anything like Earth, I bet Sancowl's home was even bigger than the entire preserve."

"Who?" Marco said.

"Sancowl." Ash repeated, smiling, "He's a cheetah."

"Ah," Jake said, "I noticed them walking it, what are they pets?"

"Friends really," Ash smiled again, this time she looked at me, "Solo and I have been working on setting a preserve on _The Beehive_, SWAT mother ship, isn't that right Solo?"

"Uhuh," I said, "But Ash here got carried away when she raised the three brothers, she found them as cubs, their mother on _Planet Earth _abandoned them. And the cubs themselves grew quite found of Ash."

"Aren't they like, wild?" Rachel asked. "They're adults now."

"They are, but they are used to human being around them, we no longer are a threat to them."

But its an animal, it's still got predator instincts. The hawk said. Tobias.

"Yes, but they know what's food, antelope is, not human."

"If you excuse me," Ash said, "I'm feeling sleepy, and I better check on the bro's if you don't mind." She got up and entered the quarter she had them in.

"So you're going to the Andalite home world." Police said, "Think they'd let you in once they see not only humans, but SWAT?"

They know who you are? Tobias asked.

"Yeah," Polly rolled her eyes, "Who doesn't?"

"Frankly, the whole pierce thing freaks them out." Cricket sniggered.

"I'm not surprised," Jake muttered,

"So, how it like?" M.D asked Jake.

"How's what like?"

"Fighting the Yeerks on Earth, you know SWAT thinks very highly of you."

Jake smiled, "It was kind of desperate."

"Very, very desperate." Marco corrected.

"Did you believe that Yeerks were not all evil at that time?" I asked.

They all turned to look at Cassie.

"Cassie did, turns out she knew better than we did." Jake grinned.

"It started with one truce." Cassie said, "Between me and a Yeerk called Aftran, I wish she knew that our peace treaty was really worth it."

"She's alive?" Police said. It was Polly, I was sure of it, Ice doesn't engage in pointless conversations. Plus, she wouldn't have cared.

"Yes, free, she lives as a whale in Earth's ocean."

"You gave morphing technology to a Yeerk?" M.D looked surprised.

Cricket turned slightly. "I suppose he didn't approve." Cricket said looking at Ax.

"We all agreed it, and we believed it was for the best." Rachel said.

I said, "Cricket, how long till we reach our destination?"

"A day or two." He replied.

"Good, then since there is more of us we'd be able to convince the Andalite government of this conspiracy you told us about, Jake," M.D said, "I always thought that the human government was evil, I now know that it is."

Can you please review? I want to know what you're thinking about the plot and I have a question for all those Ax fans out there (I'm one by the way) ; whenever Ax mentions his name sometimes he mentions his parents, but he says; son of ... and... so which is his father? Is it Noorlin? I need that for an upcoming chapter...


	18. Mission complete

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year.  MISSION COMPLETE

_ABOARD ASILL, HUMAN TRANSPORT_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 23:08_

_DATE: 10/06/2020_

_LOCATION: NORMAL SPACE, SECTOR 1015_

** MAJOR GENERAL ASI**

"YEEEEEEAHHHHHHHH!" Chase screamed in our ears, laughing crazily, "Another load coming up, this is soooo cowboy style."

"Will you shut up?" I snapped. 

"Cool, keep your cool cowgirl, chin up and eyes out we're getting us a cow herd." He laughed again. 

"If he laughs like that one more time." Rex told me, "Then he wouldn't just be getting on your nerves, he'd be getting on mine as well." 

"Amen," I muttered. 

"Hey," Tetrass said suddenly, "Everybody, four o'clock." 

I looked as he directed, I frowned, I watched as a battered Andalite fighter started running into Z-space. 

"It's them." Narl said, and it clicked the second he started talking, "The tailless fighter, _vecol_, as the Andalites say. And the left main engine shot. It's the one that got away." 

"We can't let them go thinking they'd been lucky, let's show them what it really feels like when being attacked by humans fighter pilots," Tetrass laughed, "Or what do you think." He laughed again, "Okay boys and girls, a notice for the sane, and the insane, V-formation again, Narl? Ausi? You two go up behind them like last time, but this time, don't shot past, they're expecting that, I want you to make for the cockpit like you're going to ram them then side-off. And double back. Graze the sides while you're at it, we wouldn't want them to get comfortable." 

I pushed a lever and tripled my speed, soon I was shooting towards the cockpit in blazing speed, beside me, Narl's fighter kept pace. 

"I don't think this is the time to mention this, but I need a pit-stop." Chase said. 

"Tough luck," Tetrass told him "You should have gone when we loaded the last batch in. It's gonna have to wait." 

"Oh, bummer." Chase grumbled, "I knew he'd say that." 

In my view shield I saw the fighter loom up and fill my two-seventy degree vision, at the edges I spotted pinpoints of stars and a nearby planet. 

_'Sharp left, skim surface.'_ I thought, gripping the control stick, and the computer responded, the fighter jerked ninety degrees and hurtled down the length of the fighter, I felt my wing bite and I was out of there, I doubled back, crossing Narl's fighter. 

"We're approaching." Narl said, "You've got about twenty seconds and we're back." 

"Good." Tetras said, "Chase, Rex, with me-" Tetrass stopped mid-sentence, 

The battered fighter had fired up all power and begun to race towards Rex's fighter. 

"He's coming to you." Narl warned. 

"Yeah I know." Rex said lazily. 

The Andalite fighter aimed the double shredders lined underneath each stubby wing and fired. Rex countered left, but he was hit anyway. Too slow, Rex had started feeling cocky, mistake. Deadly mistake. 

"Arrr!" He yelled in frustration, "I'm frozen, _dam it_, the system malfunctioned!" 

"Rex watch out!" 

"Yahhhh!" Chase screamed. Not laughing this time. 

I watched silently as the battered ship dropped beneath Rex's speeding fighter and opened fire point blank range at his belly. 

BOOOOOOM! 

The ship blew to up in a brilliant explosion. Tetrass and Chase turned sharply away to avoid being pulled with the explosion; the shock wave hit me and Narl hard. 

"NOOOOO!" Narl screamed, "REX!" 

"They're running again!" Chase cried out in disbelief. 

"Hey no way are they going to run off, they're dead meat!" Narl growled angrily. 

I watched as if miles away, I wasn't exactly concerned that one of the members was dead, disturbed slightly, but I kept on thinking about what kind of lie I'd have to right in my report, sure, for the _Sasi_ they'd get the truth, but what about his family? Does he even have one?

Idiot. Why did he have to get himself shot? He's just given me a load of paper work to do and an unwanted meeting with his relatives. You see, I couldn't just tell them that he was shot while hunting for Andalites, no. That was a secret.

I watched as Narl tried to blast the cockpit off.

"Hey." I said angrily, "Remember the mission. The objective is not to kill the Andalites but to keep them alive."

"For what?" Narl challenged, "You know, throughout this mission you've been telling us squat, we get nothing, and now, my best friend is dead and I want answers. So now I'm asking, why do you need the Andalites? Why are we shooting at them?"

"Do not shoot the fighter." I said coldly. I DNA scanned the half dead fighter, what I saw in there surprised me, only one Andalite. But with him were ten humans, a bird DNA and strangely, three cheetahs' DNA and a Yeerk DNA. "That is an _order_."

I had a feeling I knew who was on that fighter, most of them anyway. I called the transport.

Tetrass disabled the fighter.

The transport arrived, dragging in the battered Andalite ship and the remains of Rex's fighter.

We docked on, I didn't talk to any of the pilots that were with me, my work was done, I have in possession all the fifty Andalites needed.

Nevertheless, Chase and Narl blocked my path. "You better have-"

"Get out of my way." I said.

"No I wouldn't not after I-"

"If you refuse to get out of my way, be assured that you will pay very dearly for it." I may have sounded in control and unafraid, but the look Narl was giving had started my heart racing.

"Get out of her way boys. You heard her, she's finished here, we're going home. Rex never made it because he wasn't on the look out, his problem, if he hadn't grown cocky then he might have altered his course, and if he had altered and the fighter malfunctioned, well, we'd have helped him." Tetrass. Figures.

I should have just gone, but as I looked at Chase I couldn't check my impulse. "Turns out you didn't need that pit stop anyway." I said.

"Wha-" He looked down.

I left the docking bay, smirking to myself.

But I knew, as I headed towards the main room of the transport, the new prisoners would be there, and knowing who they were wiped the smirk off my face. So the little creep decided to get smart with us. I'll show him smart, just after I tell him how much trouble he's in.

I entered the room.

There was a commotion, humans shouting and I had my second surprise, as a bounce I had six SWAT members, this wasn't going to be bad after all.

"Lynn." I said easily, "Why, we were all terribly worried, we thought you were… lost…I wouldn't have dreamed that you would run away."

"You!" One of the SWAT members snapped angrily, he must have identified me.

"Asi!" Another gasped, the look on her face was one of pure horror, so they did know what kind of reputation I had, too bad.

I laid a hand on Lynn's shoulder and gripped it firmly, "You want to know how much trouble you're in?"

"No." He said unhappily, "I'd rather wait."

I laughed, he didn't. Apparently he missed the humor.

I called one of the guards that stood by the entrance of the room, "Take him, keep him in a holding room, and make sure he stays there."

He took Lynn away, I watched as he was led off, shoulders slumped. I didn't feel the least bit sorry for him.

I looked at the SWAT members, six in all, I offered them a smile, "It was so kind of my relative to drag in not just you"-I nodded at the Animorphs- "But SWAT scum, you animals are going to be thrown in the cages you belong to, and its going to be a long time since you'd get out of there."

Some of them stiffened, other looked scared, but one of them stepped forward. Brave, very brave, "I'm not afraid of you. I know what kind of mischief you military people are doing, you know what? I don't even think the government knows anything about it, say, what happens if I tell them something?"

"You wouldn't be able to," What he said had defiantly angered me, a nineteen year-old kid, threatening me! What was this a joke? "You'd be too busy sitting military prison, my little friend."

He looked defeated, he looked at the ground.

"As for you." I looked at the Animorphs, "It's a good thing you believed little Lynn's stories of government conspiracies. The boy is off in the head, what you don't know about him is a lot."

"We saw the files." The one called Marco snapped.

"Saw the files?" I asked, I watched him with a skeptical eye, but my brain was spinning, "Lynn _broke_ into the system, whose computer did he use?"

"It doesn't matter." Jake said, "Point is, we saw them and we know what you're up to."

"What are we up to?" I asked. I motioned for another three of the guards to lead the SWAT human garbage out; I leaned against a chair and gave him my most serious look. Including all my attention.

"You're up to revenge, crude and simple," Rachel spat, I watched her carefully, "Just 'cause the Andalites were going to throw a genocide re-play of the Hork-Bajir war, you think this justifies making a virus to attack the Andalites with."

"It's wrong, and stupid." Cassie added.

I shook my head slowly, pityingly, "What do you know about this war? You may have known about the war twenty years ago, but we have reason to believe that the Yeerks are starting to infiltrate the Andalite home world, and soon, there are going to be more than just one Andalite controller. There are going to be much more than that. The fighters we destroyed and captured, they're all controller all of them, or at least we DNA scanned, to check. Then we attacked, captured the fighter and sent the Andalites home, simple, that's why we were patrolling just off their home planet."

Perfect lie. Smooth, very smooth. Well I stopped thinking about it this way when Marco asked me something I had not though of, "We don't have a Yeerk with us, why did you attack us?"

I stared, my brain raced to find a way out, were any of the SWAT members partner with the enemy? I didn't know I couldn't remember what flashed across the screen after I had DNA scanned the fighter for life forms, however I found an answer, I opened my mouth to speak-

"But we did. Cricket, he said he and a Yeerk were partners." Cassie said.

Marco slumped.

"That's not all, I was suspicious of the number of humans and the discovery of three cheetah DNA, we attacked, no one was hurt."

We destroyed one of your fighters. The Andalite said.

"That was no loss, he had grown cocky, the same thing would have happened if we really were against the enemy, not your fault, his."

I relaxed a little bit, I made sure it wasn't visible, as a solider you're trained to display the minimum of emotions.

I stared at the ground; they had carpeted floors on the transport, carpet? Red with off-white flowers, yellow orchard floral patterns and little green leaves, I tried not to frown, who on or off Earth designed this carpet?

"That still doesn't explain the file." Marco said.

"What?" I looked up from the ugly carpet.

The file. The one Lynn and I broke into. The Andalite demanded.

I sighed, looked at the ground and then cast a look at the ceiling; I tried to think of another lie, easy. I looked down again and played with a stray fabric line that had been ripped slightly off my uniform, I twirled it round my finger and snapped it off. I found the wording for my lie.

"You broke into the files, sure, but who read it? I don't suppose you could read Ach-ims? We no longer write files in English, they're coded, and most are written in a number of different dialects known only to humans. Secrecy is important for survival in this war."

"You're lying." Rachel snapped, "I'm pretty sure this is a lie."

Yeah, why would Lynn lie to us, wouldn't make sense. Tobias piped up.

I pushed off the chair I was leaning on and spoke calmly to Rachel, "Be careful what you accuse me of, Rachel, Lynn is a troubled boy, you don't know anything about his history, or his past, least of all his medical history, well, most of it is about his mental health."

"What?" Cassie said.

_ "Major general Asi, we are having a few difficulties with Lynn. Whenever you are finished from whatever it is you're doing, I'd like you to head down sickbay we are currently trying to restrain him from hurting not just us but himself as well. If any progress is reached I will inform you. From Sick bay Doc."_

A message from my Si, so he said he was a doctor, who he was though didn't matter much. I walked slowly round the table to get closer. "As a child, Lynn was autistic. He was cured of it, but it came back, not really, he faked it actually."

"What?" Jake said.

"He used to be autistic-" I started to repeat.

"That's not what I meant, I meant 'what' as is in, you're joking." He said.

I leaned close to his face, "Do I look like I'm joking to you?"

"Hard to tell." Marco muttered.

"Why did he fake it?" Cassie asked.

"To cover up for his work." I said, "Cover his dirty work, he didn't want anyone to know."

"What did he do?"

"He was responsible for the cold blooded murder of…a human." No need to tell them who exactly, not yet anyway.

Cassie gasped. "No, no, Lynn wouldn't do that, from what I've seen of him he isn't like that."

"Maybe you'd think that," Marco told her, "But the world isn't pretty. And for how long had we seen Lynn anyway? A few days is all."

"We want proof." Jake said. "You're just telling us things."

"I'm a major general, I wouldn't lie about personal records."

"Still, it wouldn't be much to ask for, is it?" Jake asked.

"No." I agreed. "Come this way, I'll show you how unusual Lynn behavior could be. I just had a report, about Lynn, they're having trouble with him."

What sort of trouble? The Andalite asked.

"Behavioral, I'm telling you, he is a troubled child." I said, I led the way; before I entered the next corridor that was sure to lead for sickbay, "only one of you." I stopped them. "You can't all go in."

"I'll go." Jake said, and then to the others he said, "you wait here."

I led the way again, with Jake walking beside me, as I entered a bend I started to hear Lynn's yelling. What a racket.

I entered the sick bay, and there he was, no surprise, face red with rage, screaming about something. I couldn't make out the words.

Two _Masi_ were in there, no doubt heard the racket and ever so helpfully tried to assist. The doctor was loading a hypodermic needle with something that would probably knock him out; Lynn was yelling something about voices and how much his head was hurting.

The doctor kept repeating that, "Everything is going to be alright." And one of the _Masi_ received foot under the belt he staggered backwards, clutching himself.

Lynn was oblivious to our presence; he seemed concerned with the doctor's needle more than anything else. "GET IT AWAY FROM ME!"

"I've seen enough." Jake said. And he stepped outside where the others were waiting. They looked at him, hopeful, like maybe I was lying. Jake shook his head.

"As you see," I said, "Lynn is not exactly normal, and if you excuse me,"-I spotted a captain and a _Masi_ heading towards us, they were going to see that the animorphs are transported to the mother ship-"I have work to do."

I turned heel and walked back into sickbay, I wanted to have a word with the doctor.

"No, no, noooo, no, no, nooooonooono." I heard Lynn moan, he was finally held down against a bed.

As I reentered I caught sight of the fallen _Masi_ getting up to his feet and the doctor stepped in and jabbed the needle in Lynn's backside. He groaned and slumped on the bed.

I stood over him and looked at the doctor.

"His condition is getting worse." He said, then he looked up at me, "You _do_ know what I'm talking about do you?"

Lynn was loosing consciousness fast.

I nodded.

"Lynn's behavior as well as personality is going to alter, dramatically. This is just evidence of it."

"Because of his tumor?" I watched as the doctor emptied another syringe of something into Lynn's bloodstream. Lynn tried to push off but his hand flopped helplessly. Soon he would stop moving.

"Yes."

"And it isn't operable?"

"No, I don't think so, it had been going on for a long time."

"What will happen to him as it progress?"

"As I said, you will begin to see dramatic changes in his personality, he would be experiencing severe headaches, maybe start loosing his eye sight, after a while he'd be in a comma, ultimately, he'd die."

"And how much has he got left, doctor?"

"I'm not so sure, it's hard to tell with brain tumors, if you want an optimistic estimation, I'd say four, five years, if you wanted to face reality, no more than twenty eight months."

"Is there any way to slow it down?" I asked him.

He sighed, "There are a couple of treatments, not at all nice, chemicals, radiation…"

"The _Sasi_ want him alive for a time to come," I said, "And by the way,"-I looked down at Lynn's silent form-"I don't want him knowing that he's going to die, I don't want him to know that he's got a fatal illness."

"May I ask why?" The doctor asked.

I looked at him, "Do your job. Doctor. I'll probably come back later for him."

"You're giving him over to the _Sasi_?"

"Yes, they want him under their roof." I shrugged.

A _Sem-i_ entered the sickbay, he looked around and his eyes kind of lit up when he saw me, he headed over, "Major general Asi?"

"That would be me." I answered. A joke, on my part, everyone knew who I was.

"Some guy called, a few minutes ago, and he said he had a message for you, concerning something private."

"Who?" I demanded, was that Mac?

"Some guy called Isis. And all he said was yes." The _Semi_ said, "That's his message; yes."

"Thank you." I said dismissing him, I headed towards the docking bay; I had an appointment with the council heads of _Sasi_. And they're big on punctuality.

So he said yes, he agreed to take Annabelle in, well, Annabelle and her brother. But her brother wasn't going to see much of his sister, and she was going to see much of him.

Isis, was he really going to be a cure for my troubles, or just another of the many mistakes of my life? I didn't know, but I was going to find out.


	19. Tumor

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year.  TUMOR

_ABOARD THE HUMAN MOTHER SHIP. PLANET EARTH_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 21:48_

_DATE: 12/06/2020_

_LOCATION: SASI SECTOR V-21_

** LYNN**

I was living in a world of confusion. 

Have you ever woken up ill and had this strange, everything is moving-so-slowly-around-you feeling? Like maybe you were in a slow time lapse or something? Even the sounds I heard sounded far away, people were talking right over me and I couldn't make out what they were saying, the lips moved but made no sound, words that I heard a few seconds later, muted and distant. 

My eyelids opened and closed. Caught flashes of reality that seemed to echo in my memory, like the images I saw were not real. Virtual. 

And the things that I saw; things that couldn't possibly be real. Illusions? Hallucinations? But how could it be? What I saw in front of my eyes looked so convincingly true that I believed that the person I was seeing was there, true and in front of me. 

Alive. 

My father. 

But he disappeared, walked out of an arched door way. A doorway that was not there, dirty, blood stained. 

"Come back!" I whispered. With an outstretched arm I grasped at the door, only it was too far, I had to get up. 

Couldn't get up, my legs were glued to the bed I was lying on; turning my head I saw that I hadn't really moved my arm at all. Both arms lay to my sides. 

My eyelids closed. 

And opened. 

The world was not the least bit clearer, a relatively old man stood over me, maybe sixty or more years old, he was wearing _Sasi_ uniform, that of a scientific branch…like my father. 

My father. 

His eyes burned into mine, clear green. And in his eye's reflection I saw myself. A twisted, broken, shattered reflection. Like a broken mirror; with jagged shards of glass falling to the ground, I picked one up. Blood dripped down my hand and down my elbow, pain shot up to my brain. 

The pain! 

My head was exploding. 

It was as if some ragging insect was buzzing around in my skull. Couldn't get it out! 

The buzz of its wings grew louder, and louder, I felt the vibrations directly from bone to bone, no ears needed to translate the sound. 

The buzz intensified, then turned into a screaming whine that receded to nothing more than gentle hum. 

I felt flushed, exhausted. Nevertheless, I opened my eyes; and stared at a white ceiling. 

Huh? 

I felt myself waking up, but the gentle hum was still persistent. Just hearing it brought back the awful buzzing. 

I tried to move but it was hard, hard to move, my eyelids closed. I tried to open them again, but it was as if gravity had intensified and shackled iron not just to my eyelids but all parts of my body. 

But I was waking up. 

The white, curved ceiling was a few inches up from my nose. I could have reached out and touched it, but I couldn't…my arms… 

I heard metallic whirling. And then…it took all my effort, but slowly, I lifted my aching head. And saw that there was a long red, narrow beam moving horizontally up my body. 

I wanted to open my mouth to scream, but my throat had gone dry the second I saw the beam, adrenaline flooded my system. 

They were going to kill me! They were going to kill me! 

The beam! I saw it! It traveled up my arms and over my bare shoulders and then…my head. 

I froze completely. 

Terrified. 

The beam turned green, blue, and yellow; switched off. I was shaking like crazy. 

More whirling, but this time, I felt myself…whatever it was that I was on, moved, pulling me out of the little curved semi-circular cavern and out what looked like a lab. 

A human stood over me, the same old man that I saw before, he flashed a light into my eyes, I blinked twice. Moved an arm. 

The movement was so normal and expected that I almost forgot that a few minutes ago I couldn't have moved anything. A few moments ago I truly thought I was paralyzed, and not just physically, but mentally as well, paralyzed with fear. 

"Why hello, nice of you to join us." He said. 

I blinked again, was I supposed to respond? 

The man looked away, talked to some guy. I couldn't see, he was out of my vision. 

I twisted my head up, stared long and hard at what I had been in earlier, what was that? 

"Eh. It's nothing to break your neck over, we've just had you take a CT scan." 

What? 

"Why would you want to do that?" I asked him. My voices cracked as I talked. Faltered, like I was drained of energy. 

"Eh?" He repeated, but he didn't answer my question. 

I laid still. 

Stared up at the ceiling for a long time. I stared for so long that all I saw was a gray blur; I didn't blink to get my eyes to refocus. Just stared hard and long, my eyes started to sting. I blinked; soon enough, I was watching a blur again. 

I started to feel a bit hot; I didn't know why it was unexpected, sudden. I reached to wipe my wet brow but I recoiled suddenly. 

Stared at my lower arm. 

Numerous cuts on both hands, I sat up, held both my arms out and stared. Blood. Lots of it, most of the cuts weren't deep at all, scratches really, but others were deep. What happened? 

And there was an I.V unit or something over me, a needle in my arm. When did that come in? 

I sat there looking myself over, my eyes settled at my arms again. I looked at them trembling. What was happening? 

My hands shook, it took a while for me to realize that it' wasn't only of fear, a wave of unexpected nausea hit me so hard that it took all my effort to keep my stomach contents in. 

When was the last time I ate anyway? 

Must have been ages ago, my stomach felt empty, the feeling washed an overwhelming wave of hollowness and misery over me. 

I…I…what was it? I had a feeling of urgency nag at me, like there was something important I was missing or something I was over looking. 

What was it? What had I been thinking? 

Hot, it was so hot. 

Wait, that was it, wasn't it. I was hot a few minutes ago; I still was…but what…my arm! I looked at it again; the cuts were still there. 

An alarm bell rang in my head, faint, what was it that I had forgotten? Something that had…something I over looked. 

I had to fight another intense wave of nausea. That was it! The nausea, what the…why was I feeling so sick? 

The needle. 

It wasn't there before I got here. It wasn't there after the C.T. I must have fell asleep, then they stuck me with the I.V. 

Only this was no I.V drip, it was making me sick Suddenly I was so sure of it, that needle was dripping something into my blood stream. And it was going to kill me! 

What I did next I did not really plan. It was a reflex action. The second the thought of someone planning my death was made by my brain, I yanked the needle out. 

Impulsive reaction; couldn't control it. 

"Hey!" 

I tried to get out of bed, I may have been wearing the minimal of clothing but that didn't really concern me. 

Three people rushed towards me, "What do you think you're doing?" One of them cried out as I swung out, grabbed the metal stand that held the 'IV' suspended above me, held it as if it were a weapon. 

"Back off!" I screamed, I swung wildly, "Back off I say!" 

I caught the doors of the lab opening at the corners of my eyes, I kept most of my focus on the three people edging towards me; edging towards me like they were approach a chained dog they didn't know. 

One of the men leaped at me, knocking me backwards, I stumbled, regained balance and tried to club him with all my strength. "GO AWAY!" 

I missed him, but he was on the ground now, I held the metal stand sideways, as if it were a raised bat, I brought it down to crash into his skull when two slim firm hands grabbed me from behind, and in a split second, I found that I no longer had a weapon in m hand, I was shoved away. I slammed into a solid living wall that grabbed me; I almost collapsed to the floor. 

The collision stunned me, but as soon as it wore off I started to struggle. "Hey stop it." The voice said. 

The voice had me freeze. 

Something familiar about the deepness, I stood chest level to the _Sasi_ I looked up dumb folded as he shook me, I gaped up. 

It was Mac. Asi's boss. 

I looked back, the person who shoved me… 

"What are you trying to do? Kill everybody? Have you gone mad boy?" She glared at me with cold eyes. 

I looked away from Asi's gaze. 

"He's just a little shook up." The _Sasi_ called Mac said. A pun. The others laughed. I didn't find anything funny. I didn't like the way he had been shaking me back and forth. I didn't like being treated as if I was dumb, insane or even psycho. 

"No doubt he was." Asi said, she helped the _Sasi_ I knocked down back to his feet, "Are you okay?" 

"I can live. Just take it easy son," it was that old man I saw a couple of times before, the one that pretended he didn't hear my question, "I'm not as young as I used to be." 

"Or pretend to have been." Mac offered a heartily laugh. He squeezed my shoulder tightly then loosened his grip. Realizing that he had his hand on me all this time made me repulsive. I shook him off. 

"What am I doing here?" I snapped at him. 

"Oh, what? Your little trip had you grow bolder? This isn't the little trembling creature I saw in my office a few weeks ago."

Old man coughed, gave Mac a significant look. Mac looked at him as though annoyed, but he dropped whatever he had on his mind on me, I knew he had a lot to share. No doubt.

But what Mac said had me thinking. I had changed. 

No I was just angry. "What am I doing here?"

"You have yourself to ask." Asi said, but she didn't say it in her usual nasty way.

"What?" I asked.

"Gee, I don't know Lynn. Haven't you looked at yourself?"

Now that she said it –in her usual sarcastic, patronizing way- I looked. First thing I noticed was my lack of clothing, in my little fight just a few seconds ago and Mac shaking me had displaced the gown I was wearing.

No point telling you how much.

But enough to tell you that Asi's presence made me uncomfortable. I didn't bother rearranging it, it took me a few second to realize I didn't truly care what Asi thought of my appearance.

But that aspect of my appearance was not what Asi was hinting at, she was hinting at the cuts that littered my body.

My shoulders, arms, chest, abdomen, thighs, lower legs; how did that happen? I had no memory of it…

"I…I was attacked?" What I was was confused.

Asi's eyes flickered briefly at the old man. He seemed to shake his head slightly, but I didn't know… 

"Who did it?" I wondered.

Again, Asi's eyes averted from mine, her expression changed, but it was brief, and lasted a few seconds. What I saw was her arrogant expression mutate to pity, shame, disbelief, hard understanding, and then back to her usual ironic self posed gaze.

"We thought you might tell us." Mac interrupted. Glaring at Asi, had he caught it too?

"I don't know…I don't remember…"

I trailed off, why was everyone acting so weird? And not just Asi, the physicians, only Mac was 'normal'.

"You need to rest," old man said abruptly, "Quinn?"

One of the physicians stepped forward, he held me by my shoulders, the moment I felt his hands on me I felt my stomach go queasy, my knees wobbled. He grabbed me firmly, scooped me up in his arms and carried me to a bed. My head began to spin.

What was with them? What's their problem? Who attacked me? And the strangest thing about my cuts…they weren't deep, surly if someone wanted to kill me…this wouldn't have been the way.

A searing pain filled my consciousness; a flash of memory came along with it; fingers digging deep into my skin.

What?

In confusion I looked at my fingers. The nails…my fingers…bloody.

What? Had I done that?

Were the wounds on my body self-inflicted?

Horror grabbed me. No it couldn't be. But the memory was coming back.

The man called Quinn returned, laid a blanket over me. And disappeared from my view.

Old man came up. "You have to rest."

I felt eyes on me; I turned on my side and watched Mac and Asi watching me. Asi turned away from my gaze first, ploughed out of the room. Mac look at me in exasperation shook his head and followed Asi out. To talk to her?

Why would he care? I thought he was supposed to be Asi's boss. Not her friend or whatever.

Or whatever?

What was that supposed to mean? 


	20. New yeerks

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year. (changed rating for mild swearing) NEW YEERKS

_ABOARD THE HUMAN WARSHIP TIGRON_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 07:36_

_DATE: 14/06/2020_

_LOCATION: HOLDING CELL_

** MAD DOG CURTIS**

Hey there. 

People call me Mad Dog Curtis. M.D for short. 

My best pal forever, as thick as he is, is Solo. You have to love the guy, he's decent, responsible, a wacko and a bit on the slow side. 

I'm responsible too, don't get this the wrong way round, but my responsibilities differ a way when you compare Solo and I. 

Solo thinks he's Noah and the _Beehive_ is his Ark. Ashley doesn't help one bit when Solo goes all goo-goo with animals, in fact, she's also kind of a anti-violent advocate herself as well as being so…nature preservative. 

It's not that I don't care, how can't you not care about preserving whatever's left from Earth, but you know, I have a different philosophy when it comes to this; why bother with preserving? Let's get Earth back to have plenty of Earth for Solo and Ashley to go all mushy over. 

The _Beehive_ is the SWAT mother ship, SWAT for 'Save-the-World-from-Alien-Tyranny'. We're more than that I suppose, we're the human punks of this century. More metal, less skin. We're what men are made out of, and what women would die to get hold of…we are-

"Get in there you animal."

"Urgh!" I tripped and tumbled to the ground.

BOOOOM!

My arm slammed the metal table as I went down. "Ow!"

"And stay in there."

The _Masi_ locked the cell, spat at me from behind protective bars and walked down the aisle.

"I'll get you, you-"

"Save your breath."

I turned round, surprised, "Hey I thought I had this supreme cell booked all for myself." I walked to the man seated on the twin bunker bed. He had the upper bunk.

"What? Call this a high tech, uroopa?"

"What no good quality services?"

"Can't you judge by the hospitality of this dump?"

I scratched the back of my skull, stuck my hand out, "Curtis, Mad Dog Curtis, people call me M.D."

The man reached out from the top bunk and extended an arm, he must have been around thirty. "Tetrass." He sat up, "_Masi_, I'm a fighter pilot."

"Oh really?" I said, he must have recognised me as SWAT by my looks, "What did you do to get thrown here?"

"One bitch of a major general threw me in here." He looked at me with cool green eyes, "Don't ask what I did, you probably don't want to know."

"Nah, I love a good story."

"It involves a major general."

"Good, that's even a better story, I'd love to hear what you did to the _Masi_."

"Nay, not a _Masi_, _Asi_, the Asi. How can a he be a bitch?"

I shook my head, then snorted, "No kidding. She threw you in here too? Did she get to call you animal too?"

"Oh yeah she did, if I recall correctly she said I was a 'demented circus monkey'."

"You're here because?"

"I wanted to play dirty. She had one of my pals at the wrong end of a burning fighter, the other was blown to bits by being cocky. That's two friends down." Tetrass sighed at that.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

Silence.

"I just can't believe it you know? Like I said I'm a fighter pilot, up to then I pretty much thought I was invincible. I'm the best of the best. And so were my friends, I was in command in our last mission, I should have spotted it, if I did then, Rex wouldn't have suffered as much as he has."

"What didn't you spot?" The way he spoke, it was mesmerizing, his eyes held a mischievous intensity; he didn't look like the usual _Masi_. He lived for today and wouldn't bother himself with tomorrow, that's pretty much why he was here I supposed.

"His cocky attitude, usually, he's not like that, but I guess he was trying to show off to Ausi, the stupid idiot thought there was a chance he could, you know, hook up or something."

"Your friend's got bad taste."

"No kidding."

"Uhuh, and Chase was all like, hey, Rexy, pal, you should have chosen another profession because guess what? You're no pro in this one."

"This Chase guy, he's the joker of your group or something?" 

"Qualified clown I tell you, I didn't find his remark all too amusing though, neither did Narl. But Chase is dead too, Narl is off in his head and had himself settle with his brother's family. I should have either done what Narl did or…"-he shook his head sadly-"Oh I don't know." 

"Must have been rough." 

"We were in deep. Too deep." 

"What was your mission?" 

"No harm in telling you." He shifted, leaned his back against the wall. "Unit Istar, highly classified, all _Sasi_ work which they wouldn't for your life admit to doing, they wanted me and my friends to capture a few Andalites, fifty they were, I think, anyway. Asi was supervising." 

I stood up, "No kidding, man!" 

"What?" 

"Oh, he was right!" 

"Who was?" 

"That kid Lynn, and the Animorphs." 

Tetrass looked up startled. "The Animorphs, are you sure they confused my cell with the bug house or something?" 

"Okay look." I said, "Here's the big picture; we've got Animorphs back from deep freeze, _Sasi_ had them frozen up, until now, they've taken 'em back. At first it didn't add up, I kept on thinking why, why, why? And then Lynn tells me that the _Sasi_ are trying to mass-produce a virus, deadly to the Andalites, these Andalites that you captured? Lab specimens." 

"Lynn? Lynn Berolscky?" He questioned. "He's a relative of Asi right?" 

"Right. Only they say he's a mad man, I don't know, what do you think?" 

But he wasn't listening to me, he was looking behind me, slowly I turned. A guard was walking down the aisle towards us; he had a bunch of keys in his hand. He placed them off a hook and turned round a corner. 

I saw Tetrass's face light up in a smile. 

"What?" 

"You want to break out of here?" He asked in a low voice. 

"Why not?" 

Tetrass swung off the bunk and pressed his face against the bars, "I think I could reach it." 

With that, he lifted what looked a lot like an awfully sharp knife took aim, shot it in the middle of the ring that held the keys together, I noticed that there was this fine white silk leading from his knife's handle I tracked the end and found that it lead to his hand. 

"Make the bunks look like we're in them." 

I threw some pillows underneath the heavy cover and stood by Tetrass's side. This guy was really going to get us out! 

He gave the silk thread a yank and the keys slid towards us. He grabbed them and twisted the lock open, I thanked god that they still hadn't changed locks into something classier and helped myself out. 

After Tetrass had retrieved his knife I put the keys back were we found them and we managed to creep into a storage room, no one was in there and no one is likely to come here to get us. "What do we do now?" 

"We meld in." Tetrass said, "First I have to get my Si off, I need your help." 

"I thought you can't do that, you know, after they mark you like dogs." 

He ignored my remark and took out a sharp metal needle, he handed it to me, "I want you to push it in just a few millimeters from the communicator, then twist it a few and pull it out after exactly four seconds. That should disable Trek 45, it's a system alarm in the Si. It would wipe my memory out and sent it to the _Sasi_." 

"What if I miss any of these steps or do one wrong?" 

"The slightest mistake and I'm a fried doggy." 

"What?" 

"I'm going to get one nasty shock, the equivalent of the charge would be like getting struck by lightening three times, it is not likely that I survive." 

"Okay, okay." I muttered, I found the communicator and started to jab the needle in, but froze. "How far do I dig in?" 

"No more than a few millimeters, if you go beyond that you will manage to pierce my skin. And even though you find piercing attractive, I'm telling you that I despise the metallic parts of your body." 

"Oh really?" I said as I slid the needle and counted to four and yanked it out, "My dad thinks so too." 

"I'm not surprised." 

"It's all the talking that we ever do, sorry we don't talk much and even if we do, it's arguing." 

"What you don't have the father and son thing going on? Didn't talk too much?" He gave me a look, then cast a glance at my mouth, "Maybe it's 'cause it's a difficulty to speak when you've got a bolt fastened to your tongue." 

"A stud." I said, I started to yank off his Si, "You didn't get electrocuted." 

"Just out of curiosity; do you light up like a Christmas tree if you get struck by lightening three times?" 

"Long time since I saw a Christmas tree." 

"Pity, I like the whole lights thing, I always was fascinated by Christmas, my family were really into it." 

"Uhuh, the really into it part for my father was getting me to chop up the tree for fire wood." 

"Life time experience, no doubt." He looked at me, "So you were around before the defeat, the last Christmas, you saw it?" 

"I loved the idea of setting that huge tree up with lights and singing the o'l Christmas songs, the Andalites joined in too you know." I paused, "and now the government wants to wipe them off existence." 

"Are you so sure about that?" 

I looked up at Tetrass, he was working on a computer unit, rigging up an escape route. 

"How do you mean?" I asked. 

"Think about it, why would our government really want to annihilate them, that's not what they want on mind, what they want to do is gain the upper hand, they want control, and power, but we're talking governments here, _human_ governments, how are you going to gain control? By wiping off all your enemies?" 

"Well, yeah, then no one would question your control." 

"No, come on, we're talking humans here, lets not forget that, besides, we're not like the Yeerks, our style isn't shoot to kill."

"Then what is it?" 

Tetrass sighed, "I got it, I got it, it's what the entire thing's all about, I've heard Asi talking about a so called 'plot' I've also heard a friend of mine talk about it too, _Sasi_ stuff." 

"And what is the plot." 

"It ironic," Tetrass said suddenly, "That's what they're aiming for, the irresistible irony of it." 

"What is?" 

"You don't get control and power by smearing your enemies, you do it by setting lines, and then when they cross the lines you show them their place, our government will only feel 'home' if they know they're the most powerful, but how could they be? By rigging up insurance, the virus, they start giving orders and if the Andalites refuse things are going to get nasty." 

"This is supposed to be ironic?" 

"That's the plot, the irony you'll get later." 

"I don't get it, why not just waste your enemies?" 

"How can you have a monopoly without losing contestants? What the government is doing is competing against the races, you and I both know how close we are in terms of power to the Andalites, if our government rises to theirs, which is exactly what's happening these days, we'll be equals, the virus cuts power off the Andalites and our government gets it's monopoly, and it's only happy about it if there are a bunch of losers to shove around." 

"So, they don't just want power and control by itself, they want control and power over the other races…" 

"Exactly." Tetrass confirmed, "Got us a fighter, Doggy dog." 

"M.D." I said. 

"Whatever." He paused, inhaled sharply. He looked at me startled. 

"What?" 

"Something is going to trigger the chain to absolute control for our government, it's been bugging me, you know? Why not just grab control now, why wait until the Andalites crash and burn by themselves?" 

"What's the trigger?" 

"Earth. When they snatch Earth back they'll get their monopoly." 

"You mean if our government gets Earth back it's going to be time for them to enforce their power?" 

"Yes." 

"Shit," I said, then repeated, "shit, a world run by the _Sasi_ entirely? Wake me up when this nightmare is over." 

"We've got to stop them." Tetrass said quietly, "If they get what they want then the universe is not going to be a happy place anymore." 

"What do you mean we've got to stop them." I stood inches from his face. 

"We've got to stop them from taking Earth back." 

"No! We want Earth back, what are you a moron? We fight everyday to get Earth back!" 

"If you want human communism to return, you can let Earth be taken by our government." 

"But that's not our problem! If our government turns mean against the other races that is defiantly not our problem!" 

"Yes." Tetrass said, "It would be. Don't forget that the people have their expectations." 

"You're wrong!" I cried desperately. 

"Earth cannot fall back in the hands of humans, not now, consequences faced would insure the birth of the 'new Yeerks'. You don't want that anymore than I do, do you?" 

No. 

But I couldn't see why we could get Earth back. 

The irony hit me so hard and unsuspected that I burst out laughing, Tetrass stared at me like maybe I was a little mad. 

"What is it Doggy dog? What's so funny? You've got a joke, then share it." 

"It's ironic that Earth is only safe in the hands of our enemies, isn't it?" 

"You find that laughable?" He looked at me with a strange look, "Shut up you young fool." 

But I couldn't, I was overwhelmed with a fit of laughter, I hit the ground my stomach and back aching. 

Tetrass glared, "I see why they call you Mad Dog." 

Through blurry tears I nodded, I managed to get up and shoved Tetrass, "Let's insure that Earth stays with the Yeerks, it can't possible be that hard, could it?" 

Tetrass shook his head again. "The new Yeerks man, it's us." 

"Now that's irony." I laughed. 

He shoved me, "No that's scary." 


	21. Police

I saw light NB; the date is written; day/month/year . 

Chapter 21 is the last chapter of **After the Before**, however, part two will be coming up soon, I promise –I already have the first few chapters written down but I have to read them again, part two is where I determine the fate of the virus and who it would affect and so on, plus more stuff about what's happening on Earth.

On further note, the little poem is actually a nursery rhyme -like you couldn't figure that out. So when you read it, do it the way you'd sing 'Jack and Jill' I modified the rhyme for my own purposes. 

POLICE

__

Polly and Ice went up the hill

To fetch a bale of water

Polly fell down and severed her spine

And Ice went laughing after

O' what a jolly terrible thing

For Polly hobbled, inching around her-

Ice was dancing and parading

With her twin, dead, behind her-

O' when Ice got home

She sobbed 'sorry' to her mother

'Poor Polly had a terrible fall

And I was helpless to stop her' 

_ _

_ABOARD THE HUMAN TRANSPORT; X-OP_

_STANDARD HMS TIME: 13:57_

_DATE: 14/06/2020_

_LOCATION: HOLDING CELL_

** POLICE -ICE**

Her name is Polly. 

My name is Ice. 

And people insist on calling us Police. 

I find it neither hilarious, nor amusing, I don't even find it 'cute' I hate the name; I hate both Polly and Police. And sometimes Ice as well. Reasons as to why I might hate Ice will be found out later on, but for now, I will let you in this little secret; I hate Polly. Although I never have expressed this publicly, Polly knew only too well my own dislikes. 

Do you have a younger sibling? Or an older one you hate? Let's say you did, and you were of the same gender, and when walking together people insist that you look alike. Have you felt the rage that comes after this? The repulsion? _'But I'm nothing like her!'_ or it may be him. But the disgust is there, and you know well enough to keep it from both your parents and the public. And you answer ever so politely that you have nothing in common with your sibling. 

It's misery when you have a twin you hate; it's torture if you are Siamese twins. 

It's beyond torture when one of you is favored._ _

Every time you pick a phone up people call you by her name. 

Every time you come out to play people think you are her. 

Every time you call your parents they think they are talking to her. 

And when they know that it is not they repel slightly. My father tells me I put off bad vibes. 

People have told me worse things. 

We have been adjoined at birth, later separated, a few hours later actually, my friends do not know this, they think we weren't adjoined at birth, some things we keep secret, though, Polly really does believe that we weren't adjoined at birth, but I knew the truth. My parents had a choice. 

Doctors told them only one could live, only one has a better chance to survive the operation. But as I said, there was a choice. 

My parents chose her. 

When I found out a few years later it was like someone had physically torn my heart out and placed it on a display. 

No one really knows that I had found out about my parents choice. 

No one. 

But now whenever I speak to my parents or think about them, I fell a wave of sadness roll over me. 

I have concluded that my parent's favoritism has been the result of my surviving the operation. So the doctors were wrong, I have lived I have not died. Was that possibly my fault? 

No, of course not. 

Polly. Ice. Two different but identical human females. 

People call us Police. 

Police is strong and weak, she is caring and hardhearted, she is a hero and a coward, she is an optimist and pessimist, a leader and a follower. Man and beast. 

At first I thought I knew which part of Police was me, war experience proved me wrong. 

I looked at her from across the bunks. There were four in our cell. I took one of the twin beds she took the other. I was on the upper bunk of my bed, she was on the lower bunk of her bed, Ashley lay sleeping above Polly, on the upper bunk. My lower bunk was empty. 

Of course Ashley would prefer to share a bed with Polly, no one would want anything to do with me, not directly anyway. 

But Polly would share with me; her pity had rendered me to become the intolerant person I was. 

Did Polly know my parents had chosen her over me? I didn't know, but her pity would intensify if she did, she couldn't hide a thing away from me if her life depended on it. 

I could, however, hide a lot from her. 

I am the darker side of Police. And whether I like it or not I have found out that Polly was part of Police just as much as Police was part of Ice. Police would never survive with a part but with both. 

A day would come when a sacrifice had to be made, and I wonder, I truly wonder which side will the coin fall on? The darker side? Or the other? I didn't know. 

Maybe the coin when flipped will rest on its rim. Never falling to a side. For now the coin was in such a position, preserved in my own quarter covered by a glass jar. 

By my quarters I mean Police. It gets confusing I know. 

I…I mean I as in Police; don't know much about the coin, it only has two sides and a rim, one side represents good, the other evil. The rim a representation of balance; the pivot in the seesaw. 

People had told me that I am evil, this came from my enemies. My most hated was Visser One. Recently, it is this representation of good and evil that bothered me, Esplin had taught me that there was no such thing as black and white. 

Yet I had not proved that the shades of gray were existent in Polly, or me, but they did exist in Police, the debate for me was; if Police were of parts me and my twin, and we have been described accurately as black and white, more truthfully lured into believing this, who would benefit if a part was destroyed? Can a human live with being just white, or just black? 

As I said, the argument never settled, the coin balanced at it's rim. Seesaw horizontal. 

I was wide awake, still thinking about how much trouble I was in, only pretending to be asleep, maybe Polly knew that I was wake, maybe not. 

A _Masi_ had stood guard over our cell, something was up, they haven't placed a _Masi_ over us since we came here, and one was appointed a few hours ago, maybe one of the others in my team had escaped. But I did not know for sure. 

I was thinking about an escape route. I came up with zilch. 

The seconds ticked by becoming minutes and minutes turned into endless hours. After all this time I had been lying down silently in my bed, Ashley and Polly were wide-awake however. 

Polly sat upright in her bed and Ashley had come down from the upper bunk and sat down across from Polly in the lower bunk of my bed, facing each other they talked. 

"What do you think is up?" Ashley asked anxiously. 

"I don't know Ash." 

"Do you think Solo is okay?" 

"I really hope so." 

"What should we do?" 

"Nothing, what can we do?" With this Polly looked up at my still form, I did not budge, Polly could not tell if my eyelids were really open or closed, so she assumed I was asleep. 

"Is she okay?" Ashley said. She shifted slightly, I felt her do so, but I did not know her current position. Drat. Did she have to move? I have a habit of keeping track of where people stand when I could not see them. Something Polly never thinks about. 

Not that Ashley is the enemy, it's a habit I have. Polly said, "Her?"-she rarely calls me by my name- "Oh, she's alright. Resting probably." 

Good choice of words Polly. Resting does not indicate that someone is really sleeping. 

"Uhuh, I'm still worried about Solo." 

"He'll take care of himself in his usual way, Ash, we know he would, I just want M.D back, okay? No offence but he's a bit more useful in a situation like this." 

"No offense taken. If Solo were to be with us he'd have just sat down and stared gloomily out from behind the bars, he's not like M.D or even Cricket, Solo is Solo, and what I know is that he isn't quick on taking his decisions, those that mean getting up and doing something that may involve hurting people." Ashley giggled, "He's such an angel, my Solo." 

I rolled my eyes ever so slightly, not caring if Polly noticed my eyelids flickering slightly. 

"What about Cricket?" Polly asked, "He wouldn't have sat here and joined us in our gossiping would he? No of course not, not Cricket, he's a get it done type. The boy would have probably spent the hours we have spent either by trading insults with watchdog over there or wrecked the cell." The _Masi_ flinched ever so slightly at being referred as watchdog. 

"No offence sir." Ashley piped up. 

The _Masi_ turned away. 

"What did I say?" I heard Ashley mummer. "I said I was sorry." 

"For god sake Ashley." I snapped suddenly, "Who cares?" 

"Polly!" 

"Nah. That was me," I kicked the bunk. 

"Oh, Ice." She didn't sound so devastated, now that she knew it was me that had spoken. "I thought you were asleep." 

"Resting." 

"Eavesdropping." Polly called out, 

I said nothing more, I don't usually answer to Polly, there is no need, she knows only too well my answer would have been along the lines of; 'that's not the way I see it.' 

"Any new plans?" Ashley called out. 

"No." Polly said. She had done this before, answered for me. I didn't know if Polly realized how little I communicated with people. The more she does this the more I turn antisocial and solitary. It had started to become an annoyance, but I never voiced it out. 

I have a tendency to swallow down pain and neglect against me, I do not react easily to people's words nor do I show people where I stand in an argument. Polly is only too happy to answer questions directed for me, but she answers them for herself. 

"We're back to square one." Ashley mumbled. 

"What are you talking about?" I snapped, "We haven't left square one to come back to it." 

Ashley muttered a "Sorry." And fell silent. My bad mood was catching on to people. 

"Cheer up people." Polly said "We may not have found a way out yet but we're not dead yet or anything." 

Speak for yourself, Polly, I thought angrily, we're not dead yet? What is she trying to do? Jinx us? 

"I just hope the others found a way out." Ashley murmured. 

I scowled at the ceiling, what is it with them? Do they truly want to wait for someone to get us out? Can't they put their brains into use? 

I had a plan. 

Unfortunately it only goes as far as getting us out of the holding cell. 

I laid back down and tried to continue our plan. 

Our? 

Our plan? Where did that come from? 

Our plan, Police. Did Polly know the other part? 

She probably did know what to do after we escaped the cell, I decided to put my plan into action, what else was there to do? Even if we don't break out of the ship itself,; at least I would find out what was going on. Hack into their computers and check out where the others were, at least that would be helpful. 

I hoped off the bunk and ran up to the bars, I said, "Hey there, we're hungry, you guys haven't been giving us anything to eat, were is the humanity in that?' 

The _Masi_ looked a bit shocked that I'd ask him for anything, but he got up slowly and walked away to get us something. 

"Miss glamour head, give me your mirror." 

"What?" Polly asked sounding annoyed. She flicked a hand through her blond hair. 

I raced over to her and grabbed it from her pocket; I knew she always had one around with her. "Help me you two okay?" 

I grabbed the bars and heaved myself up, towards the lock, the bar arrangement changed from vertical to horizontal so I couldn't slide my arms down. Ashley braced against me and Polly watched as I checked the corridors using the mirror; all's clear. 

"Give me my pick lock set, get the third one on the right out and hand it to me." I Ordered Polly, a second later it was in my hand, using the mirror to see the lock and the pick lock itself, I maneuvered and opened the lock, I pushed myself upwards more and allowed more of my arm to stretch out and down to grab the handle, I shoved it out. 

"Come on, come on." Polly murmured. 

I jumped off and Ashley backed away. I opened the door ad said, "Avowal." 

"You're a certified genius." Ashley gushed. 

"Nope, she's just a con." Polly grinned at me. I did not bother to return the grin, just stared blankly into my green eyes. Her green eyes. 

"Let's go already." I said in a rush, "Before someone sees us okay?" 

We tumbled out and hid in the quietest room we could find. I walked towards a computer and after I secured a channel I dialed up to _Beehive_. 

A human face looked at me, with the usual SWAT accessories on, "Yeah?" 

This had to be made short I knew it, "Unit 45- we're M.D's lot." 

He snapped forward, "Eh, got that, he called in before." 

"He's loose?" 

"Yah," He replied, "Even though your mission is of low priority he called to check in anyway. You aren't really needed to join up with him." 

Translate that as; you people are on the verge of making a big difference and your commander is already leading the way. 

"Sure, you know I worry about him, so who's with him? Any of the others?" 

"Take that as a no, but he has an acquaintance. A new one." 

So, M.D got himself an ally? 

"Then what are our orders?" 

"You are to high-tail it home as soon as possible." 

Message; get the hell out of where you are and reach the _Beehive_. 

"Affirmative, sir." I replied, I cut off the communication. 

"What?" Ashley asked. "I don't get it." 

"We're going home." 

"What about the others? He only said M.D is out, Solo? Cricket?" 

"We'll find out about them later." 

"Oh, sure." Ashley said. She gave me a look. It cracked my nerves. 

"You think I'm lying?" I snapped, "Let's get the hell out of here, and let's do it fast." 

Polly nodded. Ashley followed reluctantly. 


End file.
